


Don't Let Go

by PowerofFlowers



Category: Funhaus (Video Blogging RPF), The Creatures | Cow Chop RPF
Genre: F/M, Fake AH Crew, Fake Chop, FakeHaus, GTA AU, Kidnapping, Love Triangle
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-07-10 13:27:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 29,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15950294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PowerofFlowers/pseuds/PowerofFlowers
Summary: Los Santos was never a peaceful city, especially with power houses like the Cock Bites and the Fake AH Crew tearing up the city. Yet, smaller gangs had their own chaos to be made, like Fake Chop and Fakehaus. Their own success has caught negative attention, especially by those who want to create their own monopoly on Los Santos.After working in a small coffee shop in Los Santos for a short time, Alice had not seen her fair share of drama. That was until a few men sauntered in her life and decided to give her a taste of what it like into the world of crime and idiocy. Hopefully after being swept off her feet by the gang life, she'll be able to make her own path in her new world.





	1. intro

An array of calm oranges and purples rose with the morning sky. The bright sun peaked from the skyline and started to envelope over the skyscrapers and those on their morning commute. Birds welcomed the start of a new day with their song. Alarm clocks started to abrasively wake up their owners to their own dismay. Local shops opened their doors to customers, hoping to make ends meet by the end of the day.

Suddenly an explosion interrupted the daily morning ritual of the citizens that lived in Los Santos. The Maze Bank alarms rang out as a group wearing cow masks were spotted fleeing the scene. Only one of them was carrying a black duffle bag equivalent to only five-thousand dollars. It didn’t seem like much compared to those who have been in the game for a long time, but for them it was their biggest heist. This was the first time that they were pulling off a scheme at the Maze Bank and they weren’t going to push their luck. Well, at least their leader wouldn’t allow them to, even if they wanted to.

“Where the fuck is Jakob? I told him to fucking park behind the bank,” one man yelled to his compatriots.

“No you fucking said to park two blocks down,” the other man who was beside them shouted at him.

“Oh fuck,” the first man screamed in response.

“Everyone shut up and just keep running,” a third man ordered them.

Police sirens echoed down the street, but due to the morning commute they had been hold up long enough for the three men to get to the getaway car that was parked two blocks down from the bank. The three men quickly got into car and the driver had sped off without looking back.

The criminals allowed their bodies to relax once the driver was able to rejoin normal traffic and the police weren’t on their tail. They threw their masks underneath the driver and passenger seat to make sure no normal commuter would be able to identify them. The man in the front seat retrieved his snapback from the glove compartment to regain his normal aesthetic. The two in the back just sunk into their seat as they regained their composure from what just happened.

“So did Aleks forget the checkpoint again?” Jakob chuckled as they were able to get off the highway back to their clubhouse.

“Just like clockwork,” the man in the passenger seat rolled his eyes.

“Look, we got the money didn’t we?” Aleks snapped at both of them. “So I don’t wanna hear any shit this time Brett.”

“I’m just saying, it’s okay to say that you choked or panicked. You just aren’t as up to speed as the rest of us,” Brett casually rebutted.

“Whatever,” Aleks crossed his arms and diverted his attention to outside the window.

“What a good ending to a bountiful morning,” James chimed in from the seat next to him, while holding onto the bag of money.

As the sun fully rose in the sky, the boys were able to make it back home before lunch. Their clubhouse was right outside of Los Santos, so they were able to get a little bit more privacy than their competitors. It wasn’t the biggest home out of the gangs that created havoc in it, but to them it was enough. There was only one story, and most of the guys shared a room with each other.

James threw the black bag on top of the kitchen table, and then tossed himself onto the couch. Aleks headed to the fridge to grab some leftover pizza from the night before, while Jakob snuck a beer out to congratulate himself on a job well done. Brett took a seat next to James while he was trying to find something to put on.

“So did it work?” They heard a voice coming out from one of the rooms. Lindsay had let herself take a quick nap after Brett texted her that the heist was pulled off. She was the one who helped keep an eye on them through breaking into the software and taking control of the security cameras.

“Hell yeah it did,” James cheered as she turned towards her with a big smile.

“Did you really have any doubt at all,” Brett raised an eyebrow.

“So many,” Lindsay rolled her eyes as she headed towards coffee machine to pour some that she brewed before she passed out.

Time passed as they decided bide their time surfing the web and watching videos that wouldn’t give them any of their time back. Everyone decided to pass out as a collective since their call time was way earlier than their usual noon wake up time. The only person who was able to find the self control to not completely pass out was Brett. He usually woke up early to get a quick jog in around the city, so he could scope out places for potential heists before people inhabited them.

After hours of letting youtube run, Brett decided he needed some air. He drove out one of the less flashy cars back into the city. It was fun taking the scenic route. No matter how chaotic the actual city got, the sky that surrounded it was always beautiful. Brett let his music run louder so that he could drown out the honking and screaming people as he entered the city. He drove around familiar streets, and then parked in his usual spot. Whenever he needed to clear his head he would always head to the same spot.

There was a local coffee shop that always had the best view of crazies for people watching, and obscure enough that there wasn’t a crowd of people to bother him. Yet, there was one main reason that he was partial to this little coffee shop.

“Oh it’s you again.” A girl with dark wavy shoulder length hair worked the cash register.

She was the main reason, or at least she became it when he first saw her.

“Just little old me,” he flashed a small smile. “The usual please.”

“Have you really come here enough to warrant a usual?” She smirked as she put in his order.

“What can I say? Best coffee that’s under three dollars,” Brett handed her the money.

“Wow, you really know how to whoo a girl,” she chuckled.

“How about I show what I can really do tomorrow, say 8?” He brazenly asked. She paused for a moment, with her heart beating faster than it was a second ago. The girl quickly put the cash in the register, while a blush rose to her cheeks.

“It’s only been what? Like a week since I’ve been waiting for you ask me that?” She briskly turned away to pour the man his coffee.

“Better late than never right?” Brett leaned his muscular body closer to the counter.

“We’ll see about that tomorrow,” she handed the man his cup of coffee with her number and name, Alice.

“I look forward to it,” Brett winked as he tried to contain his own excitement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! So I've recently gotten into Cow Chop and have been smitten by both Brett and Aleks, so I've made this story about them to project lol. 
> 
> This story is in no way thought out thoroughly, so if you stick around for the ride the tags might change. More people might be added and some people taken out. The rating and warnings might also change, but I'll give you guys a heads up if it does!


	2. an unexpected guest

A new day had set over Los Santos and the barista, Alice, had her heart practically leaping from her chest. She started her day off at eight in the morning, with her cup of coffee and soothing morning tunes. Her shift started at nine and she was able to talk to the manager to get off early for her date. He was a very understanding man, telling her that he owed her an extra shift. Alice happily agreed. 

The owner of the coffee shop ran it with his wife. They opened it when they first arrived to Los Santos, and somehow have not had a single robbery since. The owner chalked it up to luck, which meant he was the luckiest man in the whole city. 

After Alice’s morning routine of her extensive skin care regime and daily dark makeup, she headed out to the coffeeshop. Since the coffeeshop was only three blocks away, she always walked to work. She always used this morning walk as an excuse to pilfer the leftover pastries after work. 

“Hey!” Someone called out. Alice assumed it was a cat-caller or some homeless dude that was going to shake her down for some cash, so she kept walking. What she didn’t expect was the person grabbing onto her shoulder. She quickly turned around, and readied her fist to slam into his face.

Yet, when she turned around it was a man who looked distressed rather than aggressive. His hair was bleached, but she could clearly see his dark roots overtaking his hair. Brown eyes looked down at her as he was clearly catching his breath. While he was taller than her and had a medium build, he didn’t seem like he wanted to hurt her. 

“You dropped …,” his voice trailed off for a moment to regain his composure. He held up the keys that for her apartment. She didn’t remember dropping it, so she was thankful that this good samaritan noticed it.

“Ohmygod, thank you so much,” she gleamed as she accepted the keys. 

“Yeah, it’s no problem. Don’t need anyone breaking into your apartment,” he joked. 

“Yeah that would have really sucked,” Alice sighed put her keys back into her back pocket. Then an idea popped into her mind. “Hey I work at the coffee shop about a half a block away. Let me treat you to a coffee as a thank you.”

“Oh shit really? I’m always down for free stuff,” his smile rose from his lips as he began to follow her. “I’m Aleks by the way.”

“Alice, it’s nice to meet you Aleks,” she returned the smile. 

Alice opened up the store and let Aleks sit at one of the tables while she started setting up for the day. She set out the signage, started a couple cups of coffee, and counted the cash for that day.

“So how long have you been here,” Aleks broke the silence and Alice’s concentration on the bills.

“I moved here about a month ago. I just needed a new city for a little bit,” Alice answered as she sorted and put away the rest of the money. “You?”

“I’ve been here for about two years. This is the kind of city that really changes you, I could’ve suggested a bunch others that would’ve been better to settle in.” It sounded like it should’ve been a joke, but Aleks wasn’t laughing. 

“Yeah well, I’m pretty tough. This city doesn’t scare me, I’ve heard the stories of the gang activity here,” Alice coldly stated as she poured the man his free cup of coffee.

“Heard about the one yesterday?” The fake blonde raised an eyebrow as she sat across from him with two cups of coffee.

“Yeah, a new gang trying to make it big,” she scoffed. “Probably a bunch of losers that wanted attention.”

Aleks burst out laughing at that statement. Part of it was true, they certainly wanted the attention. He just found it humorous that the girl sitting across from him boldly called him and his gang losers without knowing who he really was. 

“I heard they’re called Fake Chop, decided they wanted to get their fifteen minutes of fame,” Aleks casually mentioned as he took a sip of his coffee.

“Hopefully the Fake AH Crew doesn’t mind them encroaching on their territory.” 

“Aren’t they just a bunch of losers who got lucky?”

“Lucky enough to make their fifteen minutes of fame into five years?”

“So you did research on them, what’re you a nerd for this shit?”

“Something like that … You know it’s good to make sure you know what you’re getting into before you move into one of the most dangerous cities in the country.”

“Nah, it’s better to jump in blind, don’t be a pussy.”

Suddenly the bell attached to the door rang, Alice’s eyes darted towards the door and stood up on cue to get to work. Yet it wasn’t a customer, rather it was the owner of the coffee shop, James Willems. 

“Oh, hello,” James stood for a second, making eye contact with Aleks. 

“Yo,” Aleks threw up a peace sign, acting casually in front of James.

“It’s nice to see that you’re making friends instead of watching anime all night,” James winked as he headed towards the back of the kitchen.

“Hey, look!” Alice defensively spoke up, but she couldn’t think of a come back right away. “I just like to spend my time doing what I love.”

“Yeah yeah, just get back to work!”

“I guess it’s my cue to leave.” Aleks spoke up. “Thanks for the coffee.”

“Thanks for the keys.”

“See you again soon?” 

“I guess that depends if you actually want to pay for your coffee next time.”

“We’ll see about that.”

After Aleks left, Alice went back to setting up for the day. She did her usual duties that consisted of prepping everything needed for coffee and put up the fresh pastries of the day. There were a few customers that came and went. The busiest was always the morning rush, where there would be a mix of college students recovering from a sleepless night studying and workers who just started their day. 

James usually stayed in the back, probably working on important business stuff or something. Alice never knew what he was doing back there and she didn’t particularly care. She was just happy to find a job that was relatively safe. 

As the purple started to overtake the sky, Alice’s eyes kept peering towards the clock every other minute. Time kept ticking, keeping in time with her heart. Brett had only come in a handful of times, but it was enough for her to remember his face and his drink usual drink order. One month in the city and the barista hadn’t expanded her horizons to her own dismay. It was hard making friends in the city when she wasn’t sure who was going to mug to her and who would actually return her keys.

Two weeks in she had grown comfortable in her normal schedule of going to work and then playing video games until she passed out. Her meals usually consisted of takeout and then leftovers from the takeout. It wasn’t the most fulfilling lifestyle, but she just kept telling herself that she would change all of it when she got enough money. 

“Thinking about the blonde boy?” James came in from the back with a pleased smile on his face.

“No,” she defensively answered. “My date tonight is with someone else.”

“Wow you’re so popular, you should try and get all of these guys you’re talking to to come spend some money here,” James commented as he was getting his own cup of coffee.

“Is that why you guys hire me? So you can get a bunch of guys with good taste in here?” She chuckled.

“You caught us.”

“Does this mean I’ll get a raise?”

“Not a chance.” He smirked. “Oh by the way you could’ve left five minutes ago.”

“Oh shit, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Alice waved as she bolted for the door.

“Don’t come in hungover!”

With the absence of natural light, windows allowed artificial light pour onto the newly darken streets. Buildings towered over the housing that surrounded it. The highways carried cars that brightened the roads with red. Voices collected along the sidewalks and gathered together. 

As the night ran longer, Alice hurried through her makeup routine and rushed to try to figure out what to wear. Fall nights were different than the day. The warmth from the sun was gone, and the chilly night air approached. So after looking for an outfit for way too long, she settled on a black dress, oversized flannel, and thigh high socks paired with her normal combat boots. Thankfully she had done laundry the night before.

Right on cue, there was a knock on the door. Alice took a deep breath in tried to let her anxiety out after she breathed in. When she opened the door she was greeted by Brett’s familiar smile. He wore a fitted green bomber jacket with a grey long sleeve and black jeans. He really knew what he was doing.

“You dressed up for little old me?” Brett teased as he gave looked over her outfit.

“Well, I’ve always been one to exceed expectations,” she smiled. 

“Expectations are already knocked out, so I guess it’s just downhill from here.”

“Thank god, now I don’t have to try as hard.”

“Ready to have the worst date of your life?”

“Always.”

Alice grabbed her purse, with her heart hiding on the inside of her sleeve. They made their way to Brett’s car. He even held the door open for her, while she hoped that he wouldn’t be able to hear her heart beating as loud as she thought it was. Yet, her heart started beating louder when she felt hands wrap around her mouth after she sat down in the car. 

Her body started to struggle and tried to tear off the hands that were holding onto her. Rough hands gripped tighter on the rag that he shoved onto her nose and mouth. There was a slight sweet scent that lingered on the rough textured rag. She started to grunting as she looked over at Brett in the driver’s seat. He seemed calmed, relieved even. 

“I warned you this was going to be worst date of your life, didn’t I?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I know this story isn't getting any traction, but I still love writing it. I mean this is the second time I'm posting in the same week! For anyone who is actually reading this story i just want to say thank you!


	3. the set up

“I think you put too much on.”

“No, I followed the stupid youtube tutorial step by step.” Wait, she remembered that voice.

“Well, you better not have killed her. She’s our bargaining chip for the shit we got ourselves into.”

Distant voices echoed as Alice was regaining consciousness. Her eyes gradually drew open, and to her dismay it wasn’t a dream. Rough nylon bound her wrists together and her ankles together. The girl tried to tug at the ropes to see how tight they were. These guys knew what they were doing. A rigid concrete floor was the first to greet her as she took note of her surroundings. Four walls held up one space, which was when she realized that she was in a warehouse. This building had aged poorly, with sloppy means of trying to cover up broken windows and rust crawling onto the exposed pipes. 

“Oh shit I think she’s waking up,” the familiar voice pointed out, but it wasn’t Brett. When her eyes shot up, she realized who it was and cursed at herself. “Remember me?”

“I’m trying not to,” she whispered as she turned her face away from the familiar blonde man she knew as Aleks.

So they were working together, she thought to herself. 

“Come on, I thought we had a very enlightening conversation this morning,” he perched down to same eye level as her. His finger slipped across her cheek to position her eyes onto his. 

“So you’re the idiots,” she muttered. “Fake Chop I presume?”

“Y’know, I think you know a little too much for just some barista at a coffee shop, especially when its run by two of the members of Fakehaus,” his voice was as serious as it got. He seemed too tired to try and play around.

A shock ran through her body as she tried to speak up, but she couldn’t. She had a feeling that James and his wife, Elyse, weren’t model citizens, but she didn’t know it was that deep into the criminal scene. In the back of her mind she cursed at herself, because she should have guessed. There were never a lot of people packed in the shop, but Alice just thought it was because of the domination of the fancy coffee shops with chains all across the country.

“If you want information, they don’t exactly spill that out publicly,” Alice hissed. At this point she tried to keep herself annoyed, so that terror of the real situation didn’t show.

“We’re not that stupid,” a man Alice had never seen before spoke up. The other man sauntered over, getting a better look at the girl they captured. He wore his hair in a neat bun and had wide eyes that didn’t seem to be as friendly as the girl hoped for. 

“If you say so,” she said under her breath. Then she realized there was a man missing, the man who was responsible for her getting into this mess. “Where’s Brett?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know? Feel betrayed that you dressed up just for a date with two other guys?” The man bun chuckled.

Alice decided to not respond, instead she looked the other way. Her nails started to dig deep into her palms, trying to stop herself from screaming for help or crying like a baby. She knew that no one would hear her if she tried to get any outside attention. This warehouse looked abandoned and far away from civilization from its lack of upkeep. 

“Don’t worry, you’re my problem now,” Aleks remarked as he stood back up. “Now you’re coming with me.” 

Aleks picked her up and hauled her over his shoulder. His shoulder impacted her stomach, so she let out a little grunt. It was clear that he didn’t have any guilt of hurting her in the process of her capture. After walking to the other side of the building, he threw her on top of a wooden chair. Aleks took a seat across from her.

“So is this the part where you torture me for information?” Alice broke the silence after they stared at each other for a few minutes.

“What do you think this is? I don’t get paid enough for that kind of shit,” Aleks said matter of factly. 

There was another long pause.

“Why would you think that they would want me back anyway? I’m just some barista that they hired. I have no actual connection to them,” Alice’s voice hid a hint of sadness in that statement. In her mind she had accepted the fact that these guys were going to kill her. There was no real reason to keep her around, James and Elyse barely knew her and she wasn’t important enough to keep alive.

“That’s what you think,” Aleks rolled his eyes. “Every single person that was hired for that coffee shop ended up working for Fakehaus after two months. Your time was coming. It had been an year since they hired anyone else.”

Alice wondered if that was why they hired her. When she went in to inquire information about an open position, they had asked her strange questions. They asked her about athletic experience and her connections outside of Los Santos. Alice had trained as a gymnast for a while as kid, but gave it up when she turned eighteen. That had been five years ago. She also had no family members she was attached to after being kicked out. The captive girl thought the weird questioning was just part of their quirky charm. 

“So what? Now you’re going to ask for money to get me back? That’s a little cliche, don’t you think?” Alice was pressing to get more information out of the fake blonde.

“Don’t worry, if our plan runs smoothly then we’ll see a whole hell a lot more of each other,” Aleks smirked. A sharp pain of fear stabbed into her stomach, his smile was unsettling. Her nails started to dig deeper, letting small droplets of blood run down from her fingers. 

“Goody.”

A tiny splash of blood fell onto the floor, which caused Aleks to raise an eyebrow. When he looked over he noticed a minuscule stream of blood running down from her palms. Aleks took a deep sigh and got up from his chair begrudgingly.  
“That’s not going to do any good,” Aleks pointed out as he got a small bandage from his pocket. “It’s just going to make a mess of the floor.”

Alice didn’t respond, she just let the man gently move her fingers away as he put the bandage on her palm. His palms felt smooth, but his fingers had rough cuts that were still recovering. This was the hand of one of the upcoming gangs of Los Santos. They were plaguing the city, and Alice had found herself caught up in the midst of it. Then he paused for a moment, she felt it as his fingers lingered on her palm.

“Would you have gone with them?” He mumbled.

“I don’t know,” she responded.

“Piece of advice, if they offer, don’t go.”

“Hypocrite.”

“Something like that,” he retorted. 

Abruptly, the front door slammed open. Aleks immediately jumped to his feet as the noise rang through the building. Brett made his way over to the two with a pleased smile on his face. 

“Looks like you two are getting along,” he addressed as his eyes scanned over the both of them. 

“She fucking cut herself with her nails, so damn annoying,” Aleks shook his head as he made his way over to the other man, who seemed like he was in charge of the operation. 

“Good news, for all of us,” a cheerful smile crept onto Brett’s lips. “Fakehaus has made a deal to meet with us tomorrow morning. Be sure that you crazy kids get some sleep.”

Alice’s throat ran dry while Brett was talking. This asshole had invited her out just to keep her contained in a gross warehouse. Yet looking at him, she couldn’t stop her heart from yearning to look at him longer. She hated the way that she wished that he still had an attraction to her. 

The night had grown late and Alice somehow couldn’t find the lack of energy to fall asleep. Aleks on the other hand seemed like a pro of drifting off while sitting upright. The darkness seeped into the warehouse, with only a couple of dim lights fighting it off. There was literally nothing that she could use to cut herself free. Her eyes darted back and forth, trying to figure something out. 

Carefully, Alice stood up and tried to balance herself on her feet. She steadied herself as she started to head over a pile of boxes that were throw together in the corner. It took her a few minutes to walk that few feet, but her eyes immediately scanned over the boxes to see if there was anything sharp. Then in the corner of her eye she notice a metallic shine peeking out from underneath one of the boxes. She cautiously bent down so to make sure she didn’t lose her balance, and tried to use her arms to knock the box off of the box cutter.

“Come here you little shit,” Aleks groaned as he grabbed a hold onto the ropes that held her wrists together. He jerked her backwards onto her back and shadowed over her in the lack of light. The fear in her eyes connected with the annoyance in his. “Why couldn’t you just stay put. It’s five in the fucking morning.”

“Sorry, I just didn’t feel like being held captive past eight,” she exclaimed as she narrowed her eyes. 

“Well it sucks to sucks.” Aleks wrapped his arms underneath her and picked her up. “I need my beauty rest, and you better be a team player real fucking quick.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Alice veered away from any eye contact and tried to forget how comfortable his chest was when she rested her head on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another update in the same week, i am on a roll lol.
> 
> thank you for reading this little story that came to me out of nowhere.


	4. here we go

“Morning sunshines,” Brett’s voice boomed Alice and Aleks awake. Both of them drifted off for only an hour. Neither of them wanted to fall asleep in front of the other, but after a long battle they both gave into their exhaustion. “Was she a good girl last night?”

“Something like that,” Aleks groaned as he rubbed his eyes. “We ready to go?”

“Oh man we are ready,” Brett chuckled as he walked over to girl laying on the ground. Aleks laid her down on the floor close to him, so it’d be harder for her to get up without alerting him. “Just as pretty as the first day I saw you.”

Alice chose to ignore that comment as the bigger man grabbed a hold of her and threw her over his shoulder. She braced for impact that time, getting used to being thrown around. Aleks wrapped a blindfold around the girl’s eyes, so she wouldn’t be able to trace them back to this location if things went wrong. After, the two men headed out. Brett kept going over what he wanted to say in the back of his head as he let Aleks drive to the location that FakeChop and Fakehaus agreed on. Both of the guys honestly weren’t sure of how this deal would be received on Fakehaus’ end. Aleks seemed confident that it would go without a hitch, but nothing ever went perfectly for this chaotic gang.

Brett hauled her over, while the sounds of creaking doors and footsteps were the only noise that stimulated Alice’s mind. Exhaustion had run over her mind, causing her to fade in and out of sleep. Her will kept trying to push through and stay awake, but a piece of her just wanted to give up. She had to stay awake, so she could find an opportunity to escape. 

Static blared through her ear drums for a moment and a wave of cries washed over the room. A muffled voice cursed as she was thrown down onto something soft. She could make out arguing from the other side of wherever she was. Small breaths crept in and out of her mouth, keeping herself from freaking out.

“Okay everyone, places please! It’s time to start the show,” Brett screamed to the rest of the crew. “Showtime.”

Suddenly the blindfold was ripped off and light burned through Alice’s eyes. All she could see was a slightly out of focus vintage T.V. placed right in front of her. There was a webcam poorly taped onto it and on the screen were some people that the captive recognized. Sitting on a couch was James, Elyse, and the rest of who she presumed to be Fakehaus. None of them wore masks to hide their identities. In total she counted six people staring right back at her. 

“It’s so good of you to join us today, Fakehaus. I hope that you read over the letter we sent to you,” Brett started off. When Alice went to look at him she recognized his voice, but not his face. We was hiding behind a plastic cow mask.

What a coward, she noted.

“Yeah, who wrote this garbage? Do you know how many spelling errors you had?” One of them exclaimed.

“Excuse me, we worked very hard on that note, Catchall,” Brett feigned being hurt. 

“Tell us what you want already, we’re a little busy,” another one spoke up.

“Fine fine, we’ll get to the point. All we want in exchange for this potential employee is a truce,” Brett spoke gently.

“A truce? What the fuck, we aren’t up for jokes right now,” the man identified as Catchall expressed annoyance.

“Seriously, that’s all we want. We might have accidentally encroached in Fake AH crew’s area for the past few weeks, and with Fakehaus by our side they’ll think twice about coming after us.”

“We’re going to need a little more than one person for this truce.”

“Okay, I’m an understanding person. How about we throw in our men for whenever you guys need help. More man power couldn’t hurt.” 

“… Give us ten minutes.”

Looking around, there were two other guys surrounding the captive, who apparently was stationed on a bean bag chair. Their budget must’ve been pretty low for this kind of deal if all they could afford was an old T.V. and some beaten up bean bag chair. Yet, the tension didn’t lessen from their lack of funds. Two of the men kept their eyes glued to the screen, while one of them kept an eye on Alice incase she tried to do anything funny.

“Okay, we’re in,” Catchall calmly stated.

“We did it boys!” The other one of the capturers who was staring at the screen exclaimed. 

“So onto the next step,” Brett interrupted his friend’s celebration. “We’re keeping the girl.”

“That was not part of the deal!” James shouted at the screen.

“Don’t worry we’ll keep her nice and safe. We wouldn’t want you guys to back out sooner than later,” Brett’s deceitful smile resonated into his words.

“We’ll only agree to that, if you train her what you know,” Catchall held James back with a hand against his chest. “Train her until our deal is over.”

“Sounds good to me,” Brett agreed. 

“You better not hurt her,” Elyse’s eyes narrowed at the three cow masked men.

“Oh don’t you worry, we’ll have fun with her.” And with that, the screen turned black. 

The three men cheered at their success, flinging their masks up towards the ceiling like they were recent graduates. Their graduation from not being hunt down by the Fake AH Crew seemed like a better deal than receiving a degree for something they’d never use. Alice closed her eyes for a second while they were celebrating. Feelings of helplessness and anger fought each other, to try and see who would win. So much had happened in the last few hours that she had to try and face it head on. 

“And you, you are amazing,” Brett bent down to her level with a box cutter. A pang of fear shot through her chest, but it disappeared once she realized he was just cutting the ropes that held her wrists and ankles together. 

“Yeah, whatever,” she dismissed him as she was rubbing her wrists. Pink burns had slightly peeked onto her wrists and ankles.

“Now that we don’t have to threaten to kill you, it’s time to have a drink,” Brett wore a smile across his face as he stood back up. “Bring out the vodka!”

Alice steadily regained her balance as she attempted to stand back up. Even though she wasn’t tied up for that long, she still felt unbalanced when she stood up. Without context, she would’ve looked like she had already drank too much. Then a gentle grip found itself onto her arm. 

“Need help?” Aleks asked. 

“Not yours,” she snapped at him as she snatched her arm back.

“Come on, don’t be so fucking stubborn,” he tried to grab her arm again, but she dodged his advances. In that moment, she fell off balance and began to fall back down. Yet, instead of rigid concrete, she landed onto someone’s chest. When her eyes roamed up, she noticed the man raising a brow.

“You know we need to actually keep her in one piece,” Brett noted to Aleks as he ruffled Alice’s hair. 

“It’s not my fault she thinks she’s better than us,” the annoyance was prominent in his voice.

“You really don’t know anything about girls, do you? That’s why I had to go and sweep this unsuspecting girl off of her feet,” Brett sounded accomplished. He sounded proud of himself being able to trick a girl into crushing on a calculating criminal.

“You didn’t sweep me anywhere,” Alice interjected, but Brett laughed in response.

“Don’t worry, you’re definitely the cutest girl I’ve tricked into getting kidnapped,” he joked. “I certainly had a fun time getting to know you.”

Anger started to take over her emotions as she attempted to slap the man who had caught her, but his reaction was just as good as hers. His own hand had caught her wrist, as their eyes lingered as if they were trying to find something in them. This whole time was a giant set up. Brett was scooping out the coffee shop to get the barista to lower her guard around him, while figuring out how the shop worked into Fakehaus’ system. 

“No hard feelings?” Brett spoke up. 

“Just don’t fucking kill me and we’ll be fine,” Alice lied. Hatred started to harbor in her heart, where giddiness of a school girl crush used to be. 

“Sounds easy enough to me.” Brett let go of her wrist and placed his arm around her shoulder. “Now, shots?”

“Fucking finally,” Alice spoke as she pushed his arm off of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again! Thank you readers for making it this far. I'm starting to flesh out some major plot points in this story. I'm planning this to be a long story, and hopefully i'll be able to keep it that way!


	5. that same night

Early morning had shifted to the late night, and the warehouse was silent. Resting bodies scattered themselves around the home that they were temporarily staying in. The whole gang was there to celebrate their success of not getting murdered by the Fake AH Crew and Fakehaus. Alice begrudgingly took part in the festivities, but after a few shots she felt more comfortable to let her guard down. It was a whole day of celebrating for Fake Chop and a whole day of trying to not go crazy for Alice.

James and Aleks had passed out underneath the table that everyone was playing beer pong at. Jakob curled up in a corner so that no one would try to bother him. Lindsay had brought her own sleeping bag and fell asleep away from the mess. Brett’s arms were wrapped around his captive on top of the sleeping bag. 

Alice was knocked out after the large amounts of vodka and gin that she had carelessly dumped down her throat. So she didn’t mind it when the burly man had chosen her as his cuddle partner. Her dark colored hair brushed against his face as he nuzzled in closer, getting a better grip. She held onto his arms with a hold that refused to let go, while their warmth kept them tied together. 

Aleks was the first one to wake up. His eyes gradually flickered awake as a yawn rose from his lips. He stretched his inked arms out to regain feeling in them, almost tapping James in the head. The fake blonde slid out from underneath the table and tried to recall what happened last night. He could only recount everyone shouting ‘SHOTS’ at one point and him giving into the pressure. Luckily his head wasn’t pounding like it was last time everyone thought it would be a good idea to try and chug a whole handle of Svedka. 

Aleks started to make his way into the makeshift kitchen, which was basically the room where they had their meeting with Fakehaus and added a microwave and fridge. When he set foot into the room, he noticed two figures fast asleep on top of the roughed up bean bag. To his dismay he instantly realized that it was Brett and Alice. He scoffed at them and proceeded to raid the fridge for leftover pizza that they had ordered a few nights ago.

Once the timer on the microwave beeped, a groan emerged from the bean bag. When Aleks peeked over to see who was rising along with him, he was disappointed with the outcome. Brett had opened his eyes and looked over at the girl that he was cuddling. A small accomplished smirked brushed his lips as he let go of her. He softly emerged onto his feet, not wanting to wake her up.

“Good night?” Aleks nonchalantly asked.

“I would say so, what’s your take on it?” Brett raided through the fridge to see what was good and not rotting.

“No hangover, so not so bad,” he answered.

“Well good, because tonight we’re going to have a team meeting with our very new team member,” Brett cheered.

“You sure she’s going to want to sit through that?” Aleks took a bite of his pizza as he gestured towards the sleeping girl. 

“I feel like the fact that she’s outnumbered will convince her.”

“I guess we’ll see.”

Brett found some leftover pasta from the night before when he was figuring out the final touches of the plan by himself. Most of the crew wasn’t able to help him. Lindsay was able to chime in here and there, but most of it was thought up by their leader. They had sent a letter to Fakehaus that same night to text Fake Chop’s burner phone if they wanted their potential new hire back. After Fakehaus confirmed that they would agree to a meeting in the morning, Brett knew that he had them. While Fakehaus was as ruthless as the powerhouses in Los Santos, they cared about those they considered their own. James and Elyse were quickly growing more fond of Alice from learning more about her history.

“So what’s she actually like?” Aleks broke the small silence.

“What do you mean?” Brett raised a brow.

“I mean you were the one who scouted her, so you should know the most about her right?” Aleks didn’t want to maintain eye contact as he clarified.

“She’s actually pretty cool,” Brett commented. “Its a shame that we had to kidnap her.”

“Whether or not we did, we probably would’ve seen her soon enough. She probably would’ve kicked our asses if she stayed with Fakehaus,” Aleks chuckled to himself.

“Yeah probably, I mean their training is way more extensive than ours,” Brett joined in with a small chuckle. His eyes then peered over at Alice, and wondered to himself for a moment. He wondered what it would’ve been like if she had picked a different coffee shop to work at. He wondered what it would’ve been like if he had never got found out that Fakehaus was running that coffee shop. It would’ve been different. Maybe they never would have met at all or maybe he could’ve charmed her without any ulterior motive. 

But that wasn’t important.

Alice let out a yawn, which snapped Brett out of his thoughts. Her eyes flickered as a tired moan slipped from her lips. At first her vision was blurry, but when her eyes focused she noticed the two guys eating by the microwave. Her heart dropped to her stomach. Even though she took countless shots with the whole crew, she wished it was all a dream. But no, her life was in the hands of the Fake Chop gang. 

“So what’s for breakfast?” Alice spoke up.

“Breakfast? It’s 9:00 pm sweetheart,” Brett pointed to the slightly cracked clock that hung over the T.V. 

“It’s the same damn day? Time really isn’t on my side.”

“On the bright side, we do have leftover pizza,” Brett tried making the best out of the situation.

“I guess that makes up for it,” Alice noted as she got up from the bean bag. She dug through the box that Aleks had brought out. There weren’t a lot of slices left, but enough to settle her stomach down.

Both of the guys were staring at her as she was heating up her pizza. They were trying to figure out how to keep her from totally hating them. Her cooperation would make this ride much smoother, rather than have her try to fight them at every turn. She didn’t appear to be combative after just waking up, but it could’ve been the hangover and exhaustion getting in the way.

Her eyes traveled towards the staring men, sending a glare their way. They quickly diverted their attention to somewhere else in the room. She rolled her eyes as she grabbed her pizza out of the microwave. She headed back to the beanbag and sat down, staring up at both of them. While she was eating her pizza, shew as trying to figure out what was next. Obviously she had no idea what the game plan was.

“Meeting time?” Aleks looked over at Brett.

“Might as well,” Brett sighed as he put his dinner down. He then headed over to the other room to wake up the rest of the gang. He kicked James in the side to wake up him and nudged both Lindsay and Jakob to wake up. All three of them were unhappy of being woken up, but begrudgingly agreed to be in the other room in a minute. After they all emerged with bags under their eyes and feet scraping against the floor, Brett stood in front of everyone.

“So as you can see our plan has worked and we have a lovely addition to our group,” he gestured to Alice. “Starting tomorrow we’re going in charge of training her. I’m going to be in charge of most of her regime since it was my idea. James and Aleks are on standby if something comes up. Lindsay and Jakob can chime in with anything else interesting or important, but don’t feel a need to go out of your way. All of us are standby for Fakehaus depending on what they need. Aleks, James, and I are assigned for the field. Jakob is assigned to cleanup, and Lindsay is assigned for all that tech stuff she always does. Am I clear?”

Sighs of agreement emerged from everyone. 

“Great!” The man clapped his hands. “Who’s ready for more drinks?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello everyone! thank you against for reading. I've been knocking these chapters out slower, but i am not going to lose traction lol.


	6. play date

Nobody took Brett up on his offer to getting drunk all over again, so everyone just went to bed for the night. This was their official new location. Sadly, since they actually signed the lease for their house under their real names there was too much at stake if they stayed there. This warehouse was better kept than the one that they initially brought Alice to. There was more space and actual rooms. They had a room for Brett to do his work in, a ‘lobby’ where everyone usually slept, and a larger space for their computers and kitchen supplies.

The morning light braced through the windows. Light settled down on the concrete floors and everyone’s attention. The sunlight was what usually woke Brett up, since he was always an early riser. When his eyes slowly opened, he took note of the gang that slept all around him. They had cots that they had bought last minute since the Walmart they frequent was sold out of air mattresses. 

He got up and sauntered to the kitchen to get a jump start on coffee and picked out a vegetarian breakfast burrito to microwave. When his eyes found the clock that was poorly taped to the wall it said that it was seven in the morning. He started planning out his day, trying to figure out how to fit Alice in. There was no time like the present, so after the coffee was done brewing he gently shook her shoulder awake. She tried swatting at his hand so she could get more sleep, but Brett found that more amusing than deject him.

“Come on sleeping beauty, its time to learn how to kill a man,” Brett joked as he shook her a little harder.

“Ugh, I thought gangs didn’t do stuff past twelve,” she complained.

“Its that kind of generalizing that give us a bad name. We’re like freelancers, but more violence and crime.”

“Every kid’s dream,” she sarcastically remarked as she sat up from her cot.

“That’s the spirit. Look I even made you coffee, you’re living the life in here.”

“I’d rather have the coffee from my own apartment.”

“Well sucks to suck kiddo, you’re getting the Fake Chop brand from now on.”

“Oh goodie.”

Alice finally got up and followed the muscular man into the makeshift kitchen. Brett pulled out another breakfast burrito, probably Aleks’, and tossed it in the microwave for Alice. She poured her own coffee and threw in a handful of sugar so that it wouldn’t taste like bleak bean water. She even poured Brett a cup, feeling nostalgic for a moment that was just a few days ago. 

“I think being a barista is in your blood, still making coffee that doesn’t suck,” Brett stated as he took a sip of his cup.

“Fuck off,” she smirked. 

“Now there’s a sober smile,” he noted as he pulled her breakfast out of the microwave. “Eat up, we have a long day a head of us.”

“So what are you putting me through today,” she asked as she accepted the burrito.

“Before we can actually do anything, we’re going to need to beef you up. What’re you like ten pounds?”

“I don’t think that’s physically possible.”

“Yeah well today’ll be easy. We’re going to focus on old fashioned cardio.”

“So I can learn how to run away from my problems too?”  
“Now you’re catching on.”

Hours had gone by. Different members rose at different times to get ready for the day. They went about their normal schedule which consisted of getting their own daily workouts in and keeping track of both Fakehaus and Fake AH Crew. There weren’t any heists planned out anytime soon. The last one gave them enough money to live the bare minimum for a few more months. If they needed to, they could hit up a bunch of small chain of stores that weren’t attached to anyone’s territory.

Aleks and James joined Alice outside half way through her training. Luckily for them they were able to get up after twelve. She was out of breath and trying not to collapse underneath herself. It had been a while since she actually done anything that wasn’t eating an entire pizza by herself or sleeping until she didn’t realize what day it was. The last time she actually worked out was her senior year when she was under intense training for gymnastics. She didn’t realize how out of shape she was really was until death was staring her down after trying to run half a mile. 

“Well look who decided to show up,” Brett diverted his attention to two guys who walked through their door. 

“Better late than never right?” James smiled.

“Never would’ve been better,” Aleks complained. Cardio was always the worst day throughout the whole office. Everyone sucked at it and nobody wanted to actually do it, but Brett made them do it so that they can actually get away from a crime scene in a timely matter. In the beginning when it was just Aleks and James in the field and for the first few times they held up convenience stores the police were able to catch up to them. They said that they wanted to enhance their ‘street cred’ by being put away a few times, but Brett was tired of bailing them out every time. Which was how cardio day was created in the Fake Chop office.

“Too bad kiddos, you’re going to do double. Alice, you’re excused for the rest of the day, you look like hell,” Brett waved her off.

“I’m trying to get out,” she whispered under her breath as she went to sit against the building. Aleks’ eyes wandered over toward the exhausted girl as she plopped herself down. For a second they made eye contact. Then he broke it once he realized that he was staring for too long. He diverted his attention to Brett, the man who was going to torture him until his legs would stop working. 

Two hours had passed of Alice observing Aleks and James trying their best not to give up. They seemed stubborn, which was probably a good trait to have in their line of business. Brett made them run six miles as a warm up and then made them do interval training. He wouldn’t let them sit down, because it would slow down their heart rate. It worked, because both guys could feel their hearts about to leap out of their chests. 

Finally, Brett let them rest when he was actually satisfied with their progress. He wanted them to be better than the day before and to keep progressing. If they plateaued their abilities then they would start to get lazy and they wouldn’t be able to hold their own. Everyone wanted this gig to work out. They had been friends for so long that they didn’t want to let anyone else down. 

“Have mercy,” James heaved out as he went to reach for his water bottle.

“Yeah yeah, don’t be so dramatic,” Brett chuckled.

“Can’t breathe,” Aleks gasped. “No one touch my XBox.”

“You guys are such pussies,” Brett exclaimed as both of them collapsed onto the pavement. “At least Alice had the decency to make it a few feet before she passed out.”

“Don’t bring me into this,” she held her hands up defensively. “I literally got dragged into this.”

“You got me there.”

After everyone recovered from their intense workout the sky had dimmed down and exploded with color. The sun had dipped down into the skyline, casting small shadows with its lack of power. Lindsay was concentrating on her computer screen with Jakob following suit on the other side of her. Brett was eating dinner in his office, while Aleks and James were trying to figure out how to play anything on that old T.V. that Brett dug out from probably the dumpster. They were able to connect one of their old P.C.s, which was how they were able to video chat with Fakehaus over it. Yet, they were falling short when they realized that the HDMI converter was missing. 

“This is fucked,” Aleks sighed as he stood up. 

“I guess its back to public access for us,” James shrugged. 

“If we were only so lucky,” Aleks kicked the T.V. in frustration.

“Hey! I spent absolutely nothing on that, but be respectful!” Brett shouted from their ‘kitchen’ area. 

Alice was on the bean bag, doodling on loose leaf paper. She hadn’t taken up drawing in a while. She gave it up to pursue her stressful gymnastics career, because her mother said it was too distracting. Her drawings were just a bunch of curves and lines that flowed with each other. 

“Whatever, I’m going out to grab a pizza, anyone want anything?” James called out. 

“Garlic knots!” Both Alice and Aleks called out at the same time. Their eyes drew back to each other, feeling uneasy about actually being somewhat in-sync with each other. 

“Okay, two orders coming up,” James accepted it without a snarky remark and headed out.

Aleks casually moved over to Alice and took a seat next to her bean bag chair. There was something on the tip of his tongue that he wanted to let go of, but it wasn’t the right time. There were too many people around and he did not want anyone else heckling. 

“So what’d you do before you came here?”

“Minding my own business,” she commented.

“Are you going to fight me in every conversation? I don’t see you doing that with Brett,” a hurt tone inflicted in his voice.

“Its different …,” she trailed off. But was it really different? They both had kidnapped and tricked her. Brett played the long game, getting close to her and getting her to let her guard down. Yet, that was exactly why she wasn’t fighting Brett as much as Aleks. When she saw Brett’s face, she didn’t register a monster. She just saw the man that could make her smile with no effort. Even though it was all under a ruse, Alice could feel both of them growing closer. She knew about the little things that would get to him, like people not reracking their weights at the gym. She knew about the bigger things like how when he gets overwhelmed he has a secret spot where he can scream and cry by himself. Brett had to bare himself for her to trust him. 

And he did, even if he didn’t mean to.

“Sorry,” she apologized. There was a part of her that retched when saying sorry to scum like him, but there was another part that wanted to make the best out of this situation. She was trying to wrap her mind around accepting this scape that she had found herself in and do what was actually best for her. She had to befriend these people, and learn from them. Or else she would be useless to both sides in the deal.

“No need for that shit. You have nothing to be sorry for,” Aleks turned his head away, allowing his sincerity to be heard and not seen. 

“I’m going to take a walk,” she noted quickly as she stood up, dropping her pencil and paper. 

“I’ll come with you,” Aleks reacted swiftly as he stood beside her. “You can’t go by yourself.”

“Don’t want me running away, right?”

“Don’t want anyone to hurt you,” he corrected her. “We don’t know how well Fakehaus is handling the Fake AH Crew. We also don’t know if they’re planning on backing out of their deal and coming for us.”

“Shouldn’t someone a little tougher be my body guard then?” She raised an eyebrow.

“I may not look it, but I can beat the shit out of some shitty people,” his voice grew more stern. 

“Well you’re still alive, so I’ll take your word for it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO i was rereading this story and realized how many typos i actually have. thats what i get for writing this at 1 in the morning lol. so i'll be editing that for the next few days.
> 
> ALSO i want to thank DefTotes for sharing this humble story of mine and also commenting on it! 
> 
> also i have made a tumblr, where i'm going to post more fanfiction in universe and one shots that i will also post here. the blog is basically a cow chop fan page so yeah! http://flowertier.tumblr.com/
> 
> so yeah, this chapter is a little longer and kind of filler-y, but has important info on the actual gang and whatnot. 
> 
> i'm slowly trying to build character relationships between the main character and the rest of the gang so i apologize if its going slow on the romance and stuff like that


	7. chemical reaction

This warehouse wasn’t in the middle of nowhere. It was actually surrounded by other respectful businesses and located outside of a main street in Los Santos. They decided to hide in plain sight, hoping that it would work since they needed to find a place last minute. Brett knew the owner a couple of years ago when he was still trying to make an honest living. Luckily the previous tenants had ‘accidentally’ burned down whatever business they were conducting before, so he got for a cheap price. 

Aleks and Alice had been strolling around the block for a few minutes. It was nice for Alice to actually be outside and breathe whatever fresh air was left in the city. The past 36 hours had been hectic to say the least. Being in the city around people who weren’t holding her against her will was refreshing. Just seeing the regular citizens of Los Santos going about their time was a little thing she never realized she appreciated. 

“So why’d you choose this shit hole,” Aleks broke the silence that Alice was savoring.

“Why did you?” She shot back.

“To escape,” he answered. His tone was serious, which surprised her. They hadn’t been great buddies in this short time that they were together.

“From what?” She decided to pry again a little further.

“It’s your turn to answer,” Aleks directed it back to her.

“I came here because this is probably the last city anyone would look for me.”

“Who would be looking for you?”

“What’d you escape from?”

“… A lot, as cryptic as that sounds. Sometimes its hard to keep track. Thankfully the guys here have been able to help keep me out of that mess.”

“That does sound pretty cryptic,” she reflected his own words back to him, while thinking over what he said.

“So you got a bounty on your head or something?” 

“Would you turn me in if I did?” She flashed him an innocent smile.

“Probably not, Brett would kill me and then feed me to the Fake AH crew,” he chuckled.

“I guess that’s comforting to know,” she smirked a bit.

“You worried about your family chasing you?”

“No not them, they probably couldn’t give less of a shit,” she laughed thinking about them even caring that she ran away to one of the most dangerous cities in the country.

“Yeah I feel that,” he whispered as he grabbed a cigarette from his pocket. 

“You know those can kill you right?”

“So can any idiot with a knife.”

“You got me there.”

For Alice it was weird having a conversation with Aleks that didn't involve insulting him or just ignoring what he had to say. It was actually nice, being able to be back inside of the city and having some sort of regular conversation. For some reason he was letting himself open up. It could’ve been because she was also letting him in or it could’ve been because he wanted her to get to know that he isn’t as bad as she thought.

They walked a few blocks down, exploring the area that they were residing in. Aleks hadn’t actually explored the neighborhood since they got there. The road was busy with the usual end of the work day Los Santos traffic. The sun started to disappear between the housing and office buildings that made up Los Santos. The afternoon was getting ready to turn into the night, but let the sun still shine. 

“So … ,” she trailed off. “Did Brett sell me out right away?”

“It’s complicated,” Aleks answered with his prepared response. He knew that she was going to ask someone about the plan with her and Fakehaus. 

“That’s about what I thought you’d say,” Alice expressed her disappointment. 

“Sorry,” he muttered. He wasn’t sure of what to say. He was torn between saying, ‘Brett was actually going to ask you out’ or ‘shit happens.’. None of those options were going to sound good, so he took a neutral option.

“Yeah, because that’ll make up for it,” she commented.

“Hey what’s your problem?” Aleks’ hand tightly grasped onto Alice’s shoulder, causing her to stop short. Her eyes darted up and met his dark brown eyes. 

“I don’t know, maybe it could be the fact that the guy I thought who was really cool was actually playing with me,” she blurted, pushing his hand off of her.

“Just fucking deal with it. We all have shit we have to go through,” his voice grew louder. 

“Just because you have to deal with it, doesn’t mean I have to do it too,” she turned toward him and stabbed her finger on his chest.

“And I thought you were doing so well with our nice little conversation,” Aleks leaned down, arching his eyebrow.

“I guess you just set me off,” Alice leaned in closer, with her brows furrowed. She let herself slip when Aleks expressed a half assed apology. It set her off when the man in front of her didn’t seem remorseful for taking over her life. 

“Glad to be of service,” he angrily mumbled as he let his forehead hit hers. Their eyes never let each other, staring the other person down. Her anger dug into his eyes, while his impatience shot daggers into hers. Neither had wavered in their own stubborn beliefs. Neither had wanted to seem weak and let go.

Suddenly, Aleks hands gripped the side of her face and pulled their lips together. Alice’s shock widened her eyes, unsure of what was happening. While the action felt coarse, his actual lips felt soft and warm. For a second, he acted on his impulse. For a second she didn’t care. His hands traveled through her hair, pulling her closer. She leaned in, unable to construct any sense through her thoughts.

Then she pushed him off of her. Even though she didn’t know what to say or do, her eyes were still locked onto him. Her facial features softened as she noticed that he wasn’t glaring her down anymore. His eyes overlooked her features, like he was seeing her for the first time. Her lips trembled, trying to figure out something to say. Thoughts raced through her mind, but they couldn’t find a way to come out. 

“It’s time to go back,” he kept his voice low as he turned around. He didn’t wait for her to follow, he just wanted to get away from what just happened. Inside his mind, he cursed at himself. His body had acted faster than his mind. One second she annoyed him to the point he wanted to ditch her, but the next thing he knew his body have given into a desire he didn’t want to acknowledge. 

Alice followed a few feet behind him, trying her best not to get lost in her thought. Her eyes were glued to the back of his head. She hated him. He did this to her, he took her and threw her into this chaotic mess. Then he had the audacity to catch her off guard and kiss her. She wondered if this was part of another plan to make her fall in love with him and keep her submissive to him. Yet, somewhere in her gut she knew that wasn’t true. After the kiss, the look he gave her was tender and made her feel safe. 

When they got back to the warehouse, the sun had fallen down and the night had overtaken the sky. Brett was stationed in his office, with Lindsay and Jakob still working on the desktops. There were three pizza boxes with a small styrofoam box sitting on top of it. James beat them back to the warehouse, and the rest of Fake Chop finished off two of the boxes. Aleks didn’t hesitate to pilfer through the boxes, while Alice decided distract herself somewhere else. Instead of facing her problems, she decided that laying down and staring at the ceiling was better. 

Her fingers caressed the top of her lips, remembering that sensation that was only a few moments ago. Butterflies chipped away the inside of her stomach, trying to make her confront how she really felt. Yet, she didn’t know how to feel. He looked so vulnerable when his eyes were still connected with hers after their lips left each other. That second of silence between them felt like a year had passed by. 

“Tired already? Did I really wear you out that bad?” A playful voice peeked from behind the corner. When her eyes tilted upwards, she noticed that Brett was taking a break from his work. She quickly sat up, so that she didn’t look too worn out. 

“You’re going to have to work a lot harder than that,” she responded, trying to feign a smile.

“Hm, weird,” he noted. 

“What is it?” She tried keeping her smile up.

“Nothing,” he brushed it off. “Look … I …,” he trailed off. This entire time that she knew Brett, he never seemed as at a lose for words as he did at that moment. He started walking closer, and took a seat at the edge of her cot. His features turned more serious, biting his lip to keep him from saying anything stupid. 

“I realized that I never really apologized for bringing you into this,” he finally spit out. “I’m sorry for all of this.” His hands scratched the back of his head, trying to figure out what else to say. He rarely apologized to people, because he was too busy taking care of them or telling them what to do. 

“If you’re really sorry,” she paused, “then can you answer some of my questions.”

“I guess that depends, but I’ll do my best.”

“How long did it take for you to sell me out,” she didn’t hesitate this time.  
“Starting off strong, aren’t we?” He nervously laughed. “Before I met you, I heard rumors that one of the Fakehaus members owned a small business in Los Santos as part of their cover. I actually went to that coffeeshop before I found out that was the real place. Then you started working there and I thought to myself ‘fuck I should come here more often’. It wasn’t until a week ago that I heard through the grapevine that the local coffeeshop with the cute barista was owned by none other than Fakehaus. 

At first we were just going to break in and take their shit, figure out if they left any important documents behind after hours. Then we fucked up. We ended up planning a heist on Fake AH’s territory.”

“Why didn’t you stop if you knew that it was theirs?” She interrupted.

“Because we’re idiots to say the least. We set up our heists a week and a half in advance and when we found out the news we already prepped the gear in the banks. To get all of that shit out would’ve been worse than getting it in.”

“So I was your plan B?”

“Something like that,” he turned away slightly, ashamed of having to admit that to her.

She then burst out laughing, as a reaction to everything she just heard. Her hands covered her face, trying to control her emotions. All this time she thought they were this cutthroat and cunning gang this entire time, but she was wrong. She had this whole idea that they encroached on Fake AH’s territory so that they could get Fakehaus as an ally, when in reality it was because they didn’t do the proper research. 

“I was so wrong about you guys,” she regained her composure.

“Yeah I can tell with your nonstop laughter,” Brett pointed out.

“Sorry sorry, I just realized that I was not on the same page as you guys.”

This changed the game. During the first two weeks of her working there, he actually meant what he said. Sure he flirted with her harder when he found out about the whole Fake AH Crew territory thing, but that didn’t erase what he said in their previous conversations. A slight weight was lifted off of her shoulders and her heart. For a second she even forgot about the kiss.

“Anymore questions?”

“You have no idea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey!  
> so I hope that this chapter doesn't feel rushed  
> there is more happening in it than i had previously planned out lol  
> i guess i was feeling a bit impatient with myself  
> but i hope you enjoy it!


	8. prying eyes

A week had passed. Brett had been training with Alice. Aleks had run off a few days after what happened. James was with him the whole time, so they knew he hadn’t run away or got himself killed. Lindsay had been scouting out different places for their next heist with Jakob. Everyone had their own things to do and luckily for both Alice and Aleks, it distracted them from their own thoughts. 

In the middle of training Brett’s ring tone boomed through the warehouse. The sound of some band Alice never heard of startled her concentration. Suddenly the kettlebell that she had gripped onto slipped through her fingers and slammed against the mat. She faintly cursed to herself as she went to go pick it back up.

“One second,” Brett put a finger up as his eyes didn’t leave the phone. He hurriedly walked to his office with a panicked expression on his face. 

Alice wiped the sweat that had drenched her face and took a seat on the mat. She had been training for two hours and her arm and back day was almost done. In the week that she was training, she could already see the muscle slowly build up on her body. She wasn’t ready to lift a car, but her progress had been noticeable. Some exercises became easier than others, so Brett had her pushing herself harder. Along with strength training, he taught her some simple moves for self defense. He picked up some moves when he worked part-time as a PA on an action movie. On his down time, him and the trainer there had become fast friends and showed each other different moves. 

When his phone conversation was over, Brett promptly came back. His expression was less worried and more relaxed this time. There was a small smile that formed on his lips as he looked down at the exhausted girl. 

“Good news, babe,” he started.

“Wow promoted to babe, I’m so honored,” she teased as she took a sip of her water.

“Now you’re on par with Aleks and James,” he taunted. “We’ve been summoned for a mission by your former employers.”

“What, really?” Her excitement perked up her voice.

“Yes, and more good news is that we’re getting paid for it.”

“Whoa that sounds too good to be true,” she skeptically commented.

“That’s what I said, but it seems legit, especially since we’re taking on one of the biggest billionaires in Los Santos.”

“Oh now it makes sense,” Alice’s excitement had disappeared. “Who is it?”

“It’s the Burnie Burns, legendary CEO of one of the biggest entertainment monopolies in the country. Also fun fact, former leader of the disbanded but historical gang, the Cock Bites,” Brett explained.

“Cock Bites?” She raised her eyebrow. While Alice had done research on the gangs in Los Santos, she was only interested in those that were still alive and kicking.

“They used to be the best. They had the whole city in their grasp, probably because they were the only ones that had the balls to go after bigger heists. Soon they were in charge of the whole city. They had copy cats, but they quickly disappeared. You can probably guess how that was handled. But one day they stopped. Most of them went to do their own thing, whether it was staying in Los Santos or disappearing in thin air.,” Brett acted like he was telling a scary story about a big bad monster, but the monster was actually one of the richest men in America. 

“Wow the stakes for this just got way higher than I expected.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll make sure that nothing happens to that pretty little head of yours,” Brett teased. 

“Yeah yeah,” Alice brushed it off. For the past week, Brett had been as professional to Alice as he was to the rest of the gang. He teased and joked around with her, but she realized that he treated Jakob and Lindsay the same way. It was like she was one of the gang, which was good and a let down at the same time.

Ever since she realized that Brett wasn’t out to get her from the beginning, she hoped that something would’ve set her a part from the rest of Fake Chop. But no, it was as if that month of flirtation never happened. She was a little disappointed, but she did her best not to show it in the moments that they had together.

“So first order of business is that we have to go over the plan,” Brett chewed the inside of his mouth, thinking of what they can get over first. Fakehaus sent Brett the whole plan and then Fake Chop’s part of the plan. They only needed four people, so Brett had decided on him, Aleks, James, and Alice. Even though she was new, she had the basics to protect herself and she was the least suspicious looking one out of the whole crew. “Need to find Aleks and James.”

Alice’s heart dropped for a second. She only thought about Aleks when her mind would wander off. Her tendency of overthinking had been the doom of her whenever she wasn’t able to fall asleep right away. She hadn’t even seen his face in a few days. Alice never thought of herself as attached to him, but she hoped that seeing him again wasn’t going to be completely awkward.

Brett pulled his cellphone back out and started dialing Jame’s burner phone number. It only took one ring and James immediately picked it up. Brett gave James the plan and explained what was going on. James said they could be back tonight, but it was going to take them time to get back into the city from where they were. Before Brett could ask where the hell they had been, James hung up the phone. 

“We’ll have a meeting tonight. Make sure you smell better by then,” Brett tossed Alice her towel that was hanging on the counter. 

“I will only if you will” she chuckled as she wiped the rest of the sweat away from her face. 

“No promises,” he smirked as he held his hand out to her. She grabbed onto it has tight as she could as he pulled her back to her feet. Brett miscalculated and accidentally pulled her too hard, so Alice’s head landed on the bigger man’s chest as her body leapt up off the floor. She let out a small squeal after the tiny collision. 

“Hm, whatever deodorant we picked out for you is working. You smell pretty good,” he joked as he wrapped his arms around her. 

“You’re so gross,” she laughed as she tried to push herself away. 

“If you can break free you never have to work out ever again,” he held onto her tighter and picked her up.

“Oh I’ll take on that challenge,” she was determined to get away from the tight hold he had on her. She tried prying his arms apart, but he just kept squishing her harder. “Oh come on go easy on me, I’m so fragile,” she sarcastically spoke as she tried harder at squirming away from him.

“Fragile? Ha, I know your progress with sparring first hand. In a week you’ll kick all of our asses,” he devilishly smiled as he brought his face closer to hers. She could feel a flush of red bloom on her face as the distance was shortened. Her eyes widened as his breath grazed the tip of her nose. Everything about him was so close, she could feel her heartbeat racing faster than his.

“Hey Brett,” Jakob’s voice echoed from where he was stationed at his computer. “I think I found something!”

“Aw, but I was having fun,” he yelled back. His arms instantly dropped her and a rush of disappointment washed out the embarrassment she was trying to keep to herself. Suddenly she tried to make up a thousand excuses of why that didn’t actually mean anything and how she shouldn’t have read into it. Yet as Brett walked off, Alice couldn’t help but let herself stare at him while trying to continuously make excuses. 

He was such a tease, she thought to herself. 

Alice ran her fingers through her hair as she tried to regain her composure. She let out a long breath and stretched her arms high in the air, trying to let go of any lingering thoughts about how much she wanted to feel those arms hug her that tight again. What drew her attention back was Fakehaus. She was curious about what this job was going to be, and slightly terrified about challenging the man who once held Los Santos in the palm of his hand. It was going to be her first mission and one of the biggest that both Fakehaus and Fake Chop’s had taken on. 

She grabbed a towel, change of clothes, and travel sized bottles of body wash and shampoo from a Walmart bag that Lindsay had picked up after running some errands for the boys. She put that in a tiny backpack that they Lindsay let her borrow. Lindsay had been such a savior for the past few days, picking up and giving her what she needed to survive. They had barely talked to each other, but Alice was grateful that she was looking after her.

As she walked out of the warehouse, sun beams beat down on her. There weren’t many people idly walking by at 2:00 in the afternoon. People were busy with work or just got back from their lunch break. There was a gym down the street that was barely staffed, so she was able to sneak in for her showers. That was her favorite time to go out, because then the gym wasn’t particularly busy, so she didn’t have to make idle conversation with random people. It was peaceful, she could listen to her headphones without worrying that someone would try to talk to her even though she was clearly wearing them. 

A light breeze caressed her cheeks as she put a playlist that she made when she first got to Los Santos on shuffle. Whenever something big happened in her life she would make a playlist. Whether that was a breakup or a big move, she felt inspired to express it through a collection of songs. ‘Violence’ by The Unlimited Candidates started playing and she let herself melt into the song. Listening to this indie rock band calmed her even if the lyrics and the guitar riffs didn’t mirror that same feeling. 

When she entered the gym there weren’t that many people. There were a few people loitering around the weights and jogging on the treadmills. The desk person wasn’t there to her luck, so she didn’t need to try and come up with another story of why she forgot her pass. Usually the people on duty rotated between creepy guys she could flirt with to get by or employees that didn’t care enough to ask for an excuse.

Showering was her favorite part of her day. It was so relaxing. Warm beads of water would wash over her exhausted body. At first, she would have to take a break walking to the gym, because her muscles were so sore. But now she was at least able to make it to the shower before she could collapse. There was no screaming or yelling, contrasting the rest of her day with Fake Chop. The quiet could’ve been eerie, but it was the other thing that Alice was looking forward to.

As she was putting on her t-shirt and shorts, she realized that someone was staring at her from the corner of her eye. There was a guy who was at the end of the lockers, closer to the entrance. He struck fear in her with his black leather jacket and recognizable face paint. She knew who this man was even though they never met. For a minute they stared at each other, trying to figure out what the other one would do. Yet, to her surprise he didn’t do anything she thought he would. The man just walked right out of the locker room. Her eyes followed him out of the locker room right out the emergency exit. The alarm didn’t sound, but she was on guard. 

It was the Vagabond, the most vicious and inhumane member of the Fake AH Crew. 

After a minute went by, Alice lunged towards her burner phone and immediately clicked on Brett’s number. With each passing ring, caused Alice’s heart to jump faster. Her eyes never left the only entrance in and out of the locker room. A series of possibilities started racing through her mind. The Vagabond clearly knew who she was, or at the very least who she worked for. This was a warning. This wasn’t a coincidence.

“The light of my life calling me? What an honor,” Brett greeted her.

“Brett, I-I,” she started stuttering, “I need help, I don’t know what happened. He found me Brett, holy shit. The fucking Vagabond was right here, staring me dead in the eyes.”

“Did he hurt you!?” His voice suddenly grew aggressive. 

“N-no, he left. I’m in the locker room at the gym, holy shit Brett. I don’t know what to do,” she started sinking into the floor, crouching on the ground.

“Just stay there. I’m coming to get you.” 

She took deep breaths as time passed slowly. Alice closed her eyes, hoping that either her death would be merciful and swift, or that Brett would be there at any moment. She held her knees close to her and her head down. Her fingers dug into her palms, right where they were the night Aleks held her prisoner. Blood formed quicker this time and the pain dug deeper. Her head started to spin the more as her breathing turned into heaving. Air struggled to run up her throat, clogging itself in her chest. 

“Alice,” she heard her name faintly whispered from the entrance of the locker room. A couple of foot steps later and Brett’s arms were wrapped back around her. His body heat softened her rigid body. Her arms let go of her knees and clutched onto his chest, like she was going to fall down if she let go. “You’re safe now.”

“What was he doing here?”

“I don’t know, but I’m not going to let him get a hold of you.” 

“His eyes were … so blank. It was like he wasn’t even human anymore,” she spoke, recalling the cold gaze that he had. 

“Don’t worry, mine are ten times worse,” his voice radiated with anger and sincerity. “Can you stand up?”

“Yeah … I just need a moment,” she sighed. He let her go and helped her up. His arm laid on top of her shoulders as the two left the locker room.

She held her breath as she left the gym. Everything looked the same as when she first walked in. People were busy with their routines and exercises. The guy at the desk was back, but busy playing solitaire on the computer. This familiarity was comforting. The Vagabond didn’t seem to have any ulterior motive and no one was hurt. That was the silver lining in all of this. 

They quietly walked back. Brett didn’t want to push her anymore, and she felt embarrassed that he had to see her like that. She was at a vulnerable state and she never felt comfortable anyone seeing her like that, especially the leader of Fake Chop. Then before they entered the warehouse, Brett stopped her in the parking lot.

“How’re you feeling?” He turned around to face her with his hands gently gripped her shoulders. 

“I’m okay … He just caught me off guard. I’m tougher than I look,” she flashed a small smile. When she saw the Vagabond, the articles that she had read about him and how vicious of a killer he was flashed through her thoughts. The pictures that she found burned deep into the back of her mind. It was a lot all at once.

“Okay, if you’re not feeling okay just let me know. You’re important to me. I’m here for all of my crew, no matter how much they whine about stupid shit.”

His crew, that was how he thought of her. At least that’s what she assumed from his little pep talk. 

“I’ll take you up on the offer,” her smile relaxed. Even though she thought he only thought of her as part of his crew, her heart warmed that he would look out for her no matter what. 

“Great, now let’s raid the leftovers and I’m going to take a well deserved nap.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this chapter was supposed to be a filler but it ended up being way longer than expected lol  
> i'm trying to build things up and hopefully they'll feel meaningful if not now, later in the story  
> also my friend created a Fake Chop playlist that I listen to while writing if anyone's interested in it  
> I can link it in the next chapter  
> thank you for your continuing and new support!


	9. legends in the work

Night had fallen and Brett asked Alice to hang out with him in his office after they ate and napped in separate cots. He asked her as if she was doing him a favor, but in reality he wanted to keep an eye on her. She passed the time doodling whatever popped up in her mind. It was something she picked up on her down time. Working out and thinking about how infinite the universe was wasn’t didn’t pass the time quick enough. The days were long when everyone else was preoccupied with something else. 

The side door swiftly shut, causing both Brett and Alice jump. The rest of the Fake Chop crew was finally back in the building. Brett motioned Alice to come with him as they both left his office. Aleks and James had finally arrived. Both of them looked way worse than when she last saw them. Their hands were shoved in their pockets, trying to look relaxed when in reality they were exhausted. They were both wearing torn leather jackets with mud and what looked like blood sprayed across them. Dark circles engulfed their eyes. Prominent cuts were seen through exposed rips in their clothing. 

“And what have you two boys been doing?” Brett crossed his arms against his chest.

“Relaxing,” James answered nonchalantly. Just one glance at them and anyone could tell that they were lying. Instead of calling them out, Brett just sighed.

“Well you guys better not be too fucked up. We’ve been summoned by Fakehaus to join them on a mission, so clean up before we have our team meeting,” Brett waved them off. 

Alice tried not to maintain eye contact with Aleks, but she could feel his sleepy eyes lingering on her. Chills ran up her spine when she finally looked over and saw him glaring her down. James put his arm around Aleks’ shoulder and then walked him out to find a shower. Alice finally started breathing again, and tried to shake him out of her mind. 

“You okay?” Brett looked over. 

“Yeah, they just caught me off guard. I didn’t expect them to look that shitty,” she laughed to cover up whatever she was actually feeling.

“If you say so,” Brett brushed it off, but his tone sounded like he wasn’t going to let it go. “They should be back in like an hour, I’m going to get everything ready. You just relax.”

“Something I’m finally good at.”  
~

Aleks and James went to their usual shower spot to clean themselves up. It wasn’t the gym that Alice used. They knew that going to the same places was going to raise suspicion, so they had their own usual spots. James and Aleks were the only two that actually went to the same place. This one was a little further away than Alice’s shower spot, but walking in the brisk air helped them stay awake. It was a YMCA just a couple of blocks down that didn’t ask questions, which was good because some of the time they would come in cover in blood and bruises.

“So are you ready to talk about it?” James initiated the conversation. 

“Closer than I was before,” Aleks softly spoke. 

“I guess progress is all I can ask for at this point,” James sighed and ran his fingers through his curly hair. 

“… Thanks for this, I really needed that,” Aleks thanked. 

“Yeah you don’t need to thank me, it’s a given after all these years,” he pat the other man’s back. A small amount of blood slipped from his cut lip onto the ground.

“Well, you know I appreciate it or whatever,” Aleks turned away so the other man couldn’t see the vulnerable look he was holding.

“Dude, you’re so fucking weird,” James burst out laughing. “But I got your back.” 

“Dude, you’re the weird one,” Aleks slightly shoved James.

“I’m the weird one? Okay, whose idea was it to go all the way to the desert to settle a score that you’ve been trying to avoid for two years,” James teased. 

“Haven’t you heard of better late than never?” 

“You say that, but I feel like two years might be a little bit too excessive. But hey you do what you need to.”

“It’s just … I just thought that I’d knock out two birds with one stone.”

“Man you just get more cryptic after every fucking conversation, don’t you?”

“Its the Aleksander specialty.”

“Yeah, I’ll pass on that one.”  
~

Once everyone was back and cleaned up, Brett had them all meet in the makeshift living room/kitchen/workout room. He shuffled through several pieces of paper, looking over them one last time. He wanted to make sure everything was perfect so that he wouldn’t have to repeat himself. 

“So it looks like we’re going to be attending some fancy shmancy charity that’s hosted by the main man himself, Burnie Burns. There’s going to be an auction where the prizes are supposedly different causes that his patrons will be donating to. But that’s all bullshit, because these ‘causes’ are actually priceless artifacts. He’s using this charity as a cover to be able to sell off ancient pieces of history that were probably attained less than legally. Not surprised that the head honcho himself is making himself look like a model citizen when really he’s just another crook,” Brett began to explain.

“I guess we’re dressing up like normal people this time,” James commented.

“You sir are correct,” Brett clapped his hands together. “The four of us, James, Aleks, Alice, and myself, are going undercover. Fakehaus already prepared our identities so we can go over that by ourselves. The charity event is this upcoming weekend, so we only have a few days to prepare. Luckily our newbie is a fast learner so we’ll be properly equipped. Jakob found us some useful gadgets that is said to pass metal detectors, so that should be exciting and fun to test. An hour ago Lindsay scouted the building where the event is being held and leisurely hacked into their system.”

“You’d think that the Richman Hotel’s system would put up more of a fight, but I guess everyone is cutting corners now a days,” Lindsay proudly exclaimed. 

“Your talent compares to no one,” Brett praised. “But that’s the basic of it. Lindsay will be guiding us the whole way, while Jakob is our eyes outside of the hotel to make sure that nothing shady happens.”

“Sounds like you’ve got everything figured out,” Aleks raised his eyebrow, slightly challenging Brett.

“I mean that’s what happens when you have responsibilities,” Brett winked. “We all can’t go running around without a care in the world, doing whatever we want.”

Aleks kept to himself, not wanting to get into it with Brett at that moment. He stored that comment in the back of his head to deal with it another day. Aleks just crossed his arms and slouched in his chair, keeping to himself. He was drained from any energy that his mind and body could muster. That meant that he wasn’t ready to fight with his ‘boss’ and try to explain why he actually left. 

“Anyway,” Brett picked back up where he left off of, “our jobs are to rob them of at least a third of the artifacts that are being sold. Fakehaus sent over a list of the top priority ones, and ones that if grab them then we’d probably be their favorite Los Santos gang. It seems like Burns is keeping these things in a secured location somewhere in the building. Fakehaus was able to locate the floor, but not the actual room. It’s somewhere on the top floor, which is owned by the man of hour. Fakehaus has been infiltrating Burns’ company for the past year, so they’ve been able to make connections with other guests that’ll be there. So, if someone is in trouble, go to one of them. They’ll help keep your cover.”

“What’s their part in it? We can’t be doing all of the heavy lifting,” James complained.

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head off. They’ll be clearing out the floor and distracting those in charge of the auction, so that its a clear shot for us. We’re just taking the most risk comparably, which makes sense since I’m pretty sure they hate us,” Brett thought to himself for a minute. Them and Fakehaus had never actually confronted each other before the kidnapping plan. They both steered clear of each other, but after their little stunt with Alice, Brett was sure that they weren’t exactly on their good side. “Are we good?”

Everyone shook their head and agreed to the mission. It wasn’t like they had a choice, but they liked to pretend that Fake Chop was a democracy. Lindsay and Jakob went back, researching Burnie’s associates and weaponry that they could easily conceal. James headed towards the makeshift communal bedroom that looked like a lobby. He was as exhausted as Aleks and craved the sweet feeling of sleep. 

“Afraid?” Brett walked over to Alice. She was still sitting in the bean bag chair.

“I mean who wouldn’t be,” she responded. 

“You’re going to do great kid. Luckily since Fakehaus has a soft spot for you they paired us together for this mission,” Brett took a seat next to her on the ground.

“What do you mean?” Alice curiously asked.

“We’re going to be disguised as two patrons, Mr. and Mrs. Allerton. I think we can pull that off without a hitch.”

“A married couple? I mean if I had a cuter partner then it’d probably go easier,” she taunted him. 

“Oh no what an awful situation you’ve been put in. If only I had been born cuter,” Brett feigned dismay. “How could you ever pretend to be in love with a beast like me.”

“Probably with some free drinks provided by said beast, that’s always a hit with the ladies.”

“Yes of course, how could I not see it before? I need to get this dashing girl a ton of tequila shots!” Brett exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. “I’ve just gathered some one of a kind discount tequila in the cabinet.” 

“My dear sir, you’ve just charmed me long enough for at least five shots,” Alice followed his lead and leapt to her feet. 

“I must not waste time, I shall return my darling,” he kissed the top of her hand and ran towards the cabinet where everyone stored every handle of alcohol that they had bought over the past few years. Alice giggled to herself as she saw the man rummage through the cabinet as dramatically as he could. 

“Looks like you’re doing well,” a voice appeared beside her. 

“Better than you,” she sighed as she looked over at Aleks.

“That’s not saying much since I look like shit,” Aleks kept his hands in his pockets and unable to make eye contact.

“At least you admit it, that’s the first step of getting better,” Alice kept her voice calm. She didn’t want to fight with him. She didn’t want to have another argument. This place had become a home to her, it was a shame that Aleks was gone when she made that decision. 

“Look… I’m sorry,” he blurted out. He wasn’t very good at apologies, after all he didn’t have to make a lot of them in his lifetime. It wasn’t because he didn’t ever mess up, it was because he never felt a need to. “I shouldn’t have kissed you. That was a mistake.”

“You really think so?” She inquired. 

“Probably not,” he truthfully admitted. “But I don’t want that to get in the way of anything.”

“You seem different,” she softly pointed out.

“A lot happened in the past few days, a lot of thinking.”

“And fighting.”

“Well thats a given.”

“I’m sorry too,” Alice apologized. “I did not make it easy for either of us in the small amount of time we actually interacted.”

“You got that right,” Aleks smiled a bit. “I guess its both of our faults.”

“We should probably start over.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Hi I’m Alice, the newest member of Fake Chop,” Alice held her hand out towards Aleks.  
“I’m Aleks, long standing member of the worst gang in Los Santos, nice to meet you,” he took her hand and shook it. 

“Likewise.”

They shared a tender moment in the shape of shaking hands. Alice allowed her body to relax as she watched Aleks walk off. Then excitement rose as she saw Brett finding the tequila with the torn label.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! so i was super excited to write this next chapter so i basically wrote it all at once.   
> this one is a little more filler-y just so i can lay down some ground work.  
> but i hope you enjoy!


	10. bad blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: blood/violence/death

One shot of tequila somehow turned into seven shots of whatever Brett decided poured. A two person party turned into four when he roped Lindsay and James into it. Eventually everyone had found themselves pissed drunk, having mental conversations of whether or not to drink more. Alice and Lindsay already vomited up anything that they had for lunch while James and Brett were competing in an unending staring contest, except both of them already blinked multiple times. Jakob had barricaded himself in the single use bathroom so that no one could try to drag him out.

 

“You’re literally the best,” Alice draped herself around Lindsay’s shoulders.

 

“That’s because you’re the only one I can stand,” Lindsay shined a cheesy smile as she pulled Alice closer to her. “Everyone else here is an idiot.”

 

“Hey I heard that!” Brett turned his face towards them and yelled. 

 

“I win!” James threw his arms in the air in victory. 

 

“Ah fuck!” Brett yelled and then tackled James to the floor. They started wrestling on the floor, trying to get the upper hand over the other.

 

“My point stands,” she started leaning down, and collapsed on the ground. Thankfully she had fallen in what seemed like slow motion, so Alice was able to dodge her fall. Lindsay seemed peaceful as she laid down on the cold hard floor. Alice patted Lindsay on the head before trying to venture to the lobby.

 

Nausea had riddled her mind, thankfully all the food she ate was already out of her system. She stumbled around the two boys who were still rolling around on the floor. Brett had an advantage, because of his upper body strength. It was only a minute, but he was able to get James in a chokehold.

 

“Tell me how much you appreciate me!” Brett shouted in his face. 

 

“You’re an amazing boss and an amazing friend. I appreciate the work you’ve done!” James shrieked.

 

“Aw dude, you really mean that?” Brett loosened his grip.

 

“Yeah man, you’re one of the best guys I know,” James sincerely spoke.

 

“You’re one of the best guys that _I_ know,” Brett changed his chokehold to a hug.

 

While the two men were having a tender moment, Alice tried stumbling into the lobby to find her cot. The lights were off and Alice stretched out her arms to make sure that she wasn’t going to bump into anything. Even though the lobby was lit by the outside lights, she still wasn’t able to fully recognize her surroundings.

 

She only made it a few feet from the door, and then gave up completely and laid down on the nearest cot. She crashed onto the sheets, and as soon as her head laid down she passed out. Alice fell asleep so fast that she didn’t realize that someone had already been occupying that bed. He was laying on his side towards the edge, so she didn’t realize someone was there when she felt around. Aleks realized right away that someone had intruded his space when her body flopped down next to him. 

 

“James, I swear …,” Aleks started to scold who he thought was was his friend. Instead of when turned around, he noticed that it the person facing him wasn’t James. “… Alice?”

 

“Shh… sleeping,” she whispered. 

 

“You’re so weird,” he whispered back as he was looking her over. 

 

Her bangs hung over her closed eyes. Pink was brushed against her cheeks from consuming her own weight in alcohol. Her features were relaxed, like she was finally at peace after this hectic week and a half. His fingers slightly stroked the hair from her eyes, and cupped her cheek. She had such smooth skin, he couldn’t help himself for a moment. His eyes traveled down the curves of her face down to her lips. Memories of their kiss flashed in his mind. Then he quickly pulled himself away. He recognized that the longer that he stayed in this bed with her, the more likely he would’ve had to face how he actually felt about her.

 

Aleks swiftly got himself out of the bed and found a new resting place. He took the bed on the opposite side of the room, just in case anybody else was too lazy to find their own bed. When he laid back down, he couldn’t find the lack of energy in himself to go back to sleep. She didn’t even have to say anything to keep her running through his mind. He didn’t know how it happened. One minute he was in charge of just watching her for a night and then suddenly he couldn’t stop thinking about her. To him it felt like it came out of nowhere. To him it felt like there was no explanation behind this. But that could’ve been because he didn’t want to explore anything that could make him feel vulnerable. 

 

The last few days had caused him to regress back to a state of constant anxiety. Everything that happened was last minute. Aleks was forced to rely on luck every step of the way, but thankfully he had James by his side to help him out. This was a long time coming, and James had been mentally prepared to help his best friend. He had a lot of questions, but he was ready to wait until Aleks didn’t seem completely fucked up over it. They had always been by each other’s side no matter how shitty or unreasonable the request was.

 

But Aleks’ most recent request wasn’t either. It started from when he was only a child and it had been haunting him for over twenty years. He had been running away from a ghost who wouldn’t let take its grip off of him. When he thought he had finally escaped, a not so friendly reminder was sent his way. 

 

 

_ Aleks recovered a letter the next day after his fight with Alice. It only said one thing, “Desert”. He knew what it meant, and he couldn’t decline it. _

 

_ “You sure this is what you want?” James whispered to Aleks.  _

 

_ “That’s a good question,” Aleks replied as he flicked his cigarette onto the sand.  _

 

_ Bright stars peered down as the black velvet night engulfed the sky. A blanket of untouched sand stretched for miles. Hills had circled around the desert, fencing off civilization from the scenery. A black car was parked in the middle of nowhere with the headlights piercing through the night sky. Both men were leaning against the side of the car, waiting for their guests to arrive. It had been days since he left the Fake Chop warehouse. It had been days since he even thought about them. Aleks held his nerves in the best that he could. His foot kept tapping in anticipation, while he was trying to control his breathing. _

 

_ Then they noticed someone pulling up in the distance. The headlights fixed its gaze onto James and Aleks as the rumble of the truck grew closer. Aleks’ kept his pistol tucked into his waist band, and had his switchblade hidden in his back pocket. James clutched onto the metal bat with his right hand, and his handy dandy taser stowed in his back pocket. These were the only actual weapons that the boys had been able to sneak out of the warehouse without anyone noticing._

 

_ As the truck approached, both of them brought up their guard. James swung the bat over his shoulder, trying to make himself look intimidating. Aleks went over a thousand different outcomes that tonight could have played out. Yet he wasn’t going to let his fear get to him, he couldn’t afford to take that kind of risk.  _

 

_ The truck immediately turned of its lights as they parked right in front of them. Two men casually jumped out of the front seats, adjusting their suits as they landed on their feet. Both of them were wearing black suits with black dress shirts and dark sunglasses. They also had open eyes tattooed on the back of their hands in jet black ink to signify who they were working for. These men were specifically chosen from the person who was in charge of the operation. Aleks and James had tussled with many men that were sent their way before, so the boss had to get more serious.  _

 

_ “Aleksandr, you’re looking well,” one of the men spoke in a heavy Russian accent. His dark brown hair was gelled back and he was the shorter one of the two. The other man next to him was bald and the tallest out of all of them. _

 

_ “I can’t say the same for you,” Aleks let his Russian accent slip out.  _

 

_ “I’m so hurt. After all we’ve been through, I would’ve thought that you’d be happy to see me,” the brunette faked disappointment in his voice. _

 

_ “I wouldn’t even joke about that,” Aleks kept a stern gaze on him. “You’re the worst scum that’s ever crawled this fucking Earth.” _

 

_ “Wow,” the man paused. “I bet mother would be hurt to hear you say that about me.” _

 

_ “Don’t you bring her into this,” Aleks slightly snapped, almost charging at him. Luckily, James grabbed onto his arm before Aleks did something dumb. _

 

_ “What a mama’s boy. You abandon her then you still care about her? I’m sure she would’ve loved to be in my position,” the man’s tone grew more hostile.  _

 

_ “I said don’t fucking bring her into this!” Aleks screamed at him. _

 

_ “What are you going to do? Kill me?” The man started laughing. “I’d like to see you try.” _

 

_ “Be careful what you wish for,” Aleks mumbled to himself as he gripped the gun in his waistband. _

 

_ “Like I said, I’d like to see you try,” the man reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a handgun.  _

 

_ “You shouldn’t underestimate me,” Aleks smirked as he whipped his gun out and pointed it at the man. _

 

_ “I should say the same for you,” the man took his time to aim the gun at Aleks.  _

 

_ They were in a stand off. James and the man who hadn’t spoken yet stayed back and just along for the ride. This was personal.  _

 

_ Suddenly, they both fired their shot. Both bullets pierced through the other’s arm. Both of them let out a howl in pain in response. Blood trickled down their arms and dripped red onto the pale sand. Pain pulsated from the bullet wounds, causing tears to well up in their eyes. Neither dared to budge from their original stance, they didn’t want waver in front of the other person.  _

 

_ “You’ve gotten more tough since the last time I saw you,” Aleks remarked. _

 

_ “I could say the same for you,” the man chuckled.  _

 

_ “But only one of us is going to make it out alive,” Aleks’ tone drifted as he aimed the gun back at him. _

 

_ “Good luck,” he whispered. “Dante, now!”  _

 

_ Immediately, the bald man pulled out a flash bang and aimed it at the ground in between both parties. Smoke filled their lungs, both Aleks and James pulled their shirts up to their faces, trying not to inhale too much of it. James’ hands were reaching behind him, trying find the car. When his hand clutched onto the door handle, he quickly opened it and shoved him and Aleks inside of it.  _

 

_ A bullet ricocheted off the side of the door and then another one flew into the window as soon as James closed the door. He then hurriedly changed the gear from park to drive and slammed on the gas. Behind them, they could hear the men screaming in Russian at each other. Then after a minute, they heard the horn of the truck blaring. When the smoke finally cleared from their vision, they noticed that the truck was gaining on them in the rear view mirror. Aleks’ hurriedly ripped a piece of his shirt and tied it around his arm so that he wouldn’t bleed out.  _

 

_ Another bullet soared through the back window and stuck itself into the front windshield. Aleks cursed and James picked up the speed. They were driving deeper into the desert, hoping that they could find a spot where they can take advantage of their scenery._

 

_ Aleks pushed half of his body out of the window and started shooting at the tires. The bullets sparked off the tires to Aleks' disappointment. The material of the tire was strong enough to reflect the gun shots away. When he pulled himself back into the car, he reloaded his gun. _

 

_ “So what’s the actual plan?” James demanded. _

 

_ “Kill them.”  _

 

_ “Oh that easy?” James sarcastically noted.  _

 

_ “Over there,” Aleks pointed to a spot where mountains were forming. James followed his friend’s order and started driving towards there. He found himself driving in an area where there was more plant life and a rockier terrain. They parked the car and swiftly bolted out it, heading behind a pile of boulders _

 

_ The lights of the truck invaded the space as it enveloped around the boulders. This time the two men didn’t shut off the truck as they stepped out of it. They couldn’t drive it any further, because there were two mountains narrowing the path. _

 

_ “Come out Aleks, we don’t need to play it this way,” the brunette screamed. “Don’t be a coward! I thought you were better than this!” _

 

_ Aleks locked eyes with James, signaling him that it was time. James nodded his head and pulled the taser out of his pocket. He turned it on and then threw it up high in the air. The taser was constantly going off, because the button had been previously taped down. James then popped up and slammed his bat against the base of the taser at the two other men. Electricity popped and steamed as it pierced into the bald’s man neck. He started seizing up as he tried to put it out of him, but this wasn’t a regular taser. This was a modified Fake Chop taser that was created to penetrate and stick into any human being. The bald man immediately fell to the ground.  _

 

_ “Its your turn,” James smiled. Aleks nodded and rose to his feet. The brunette fired his gun again, but Aleks swiftly moved away from the boulders. Aleks held his gun up, but he was never good at aiming and running. He missed as he kept trying to hit the man in the head. Instead, he hit him in the shin and shoulder.  _

 

_ As Aleks was taking shots at the one man, James noticed that the bald man who was seizing on the ground had been able to rip out the taser. He started getting up, which was going to be a problem for Aleks. James jumped up and started running to cover Aleks’ back. He started rushing over with his metal bat in hand. The bald man slowly got onto his feet, reaching his hand out to grab onto Aleks. Instead, he was met with a bash to the side of his face from James.  _

 

_ The bald man didn’t go down with one hit, so he grabbed onto James’ jacket and threw him at one of the mountains. James’ back collided with the rough rock and let out a small groan. Luckily, James was able to get back up pretty quickly as he noticed the bald man giving up on Aleks and going for him. The bald man slid some brass knuckles on as he ran towards James. He threw a punch at James’ face, but he was able to duck underneath it. Then James swung his bat at the mans’ stomach. A small squirt of blood burst through the bald man’s lips, but he still wasn’t going down. _

 

_ On the other side, the brunette and Aleks were in a shoot out. The brunette scraped the side of Aleks’ cheek. Aleks was gaining speed and getting closer, so he was able to fire at the man’s side. The brunette didn’t go down, instead he threw the gun on the ground and pulled out his own set of brass knuckles. Aleks used his last bullet to aim at the mans’ head, but missed, so he also threw his gun away as he pulled out his own switchblade. Their eyes were latched onto each other.  _

 

_ Aleks swung his blade at the man’s face when he got close enough. Yet, the brunette jumped back in time and threw a punch that smashed into Aleks’ cheek. Blood spewed from Aleks’ mouth onto the sand and his jacket. He stumbled a bit, but noticed when the man started charging at him with his other hand. Aleks was able to dodge the advance and then stab the man in the stomach.  _

 

_ “Fuck!” The brunette cursed. Aleks knocked the man down as the dug the knife deeper and landed on top of him. The man threw an uppercut and crashed into Aleks’ stomach, making Aleks’ groan drip more blood out of his mouth and onto the man’s suit.  _

 

_ Aleks gripped his switchblade tighter, leaving marks on the inside of his hand. He brought it up and then slammed it down into the man’s arms multiple times. The brunette’s fists suddenly opened in the reaction to the pain. Aleks then punctured the knife into his opponent’s chest. He pulled the knife out of him, but then he couldn’t help himself. Aleks kept stabbing the man, ten wounds turned into twenty, which turned into fifty. The brunette had gripped onto Aleks’ jacket, but when the life finally left his body his hand fell back onto the sand. When Aleks finally stopped, his breathing started to grow more frantic. He began breathing heavier and more frequent. Aleks dropped the switchblade and gripped his chest as his eyes wandered into the lifeless eyes of his opponent. Tears then gently fell, mixing his tears with the man’s blood. A wretched heartbreak clawed away at the inside of his soul. His heavy heart sunk into the deepest part of despair.  _

 

_ Aleks then dropped his chest on top of the corpse, hugging it close to him. Cries boomed through his throat as his hold became tighter. Tears constantly emerged from his dark colored eyes, dripping down his face and the man’s body.  _

 

_ James finished the bald man with a whack to the neck and then one more time to the head. When the bald man fell down, he swung the bat down a few more times on his face, just to make sure he wouldn’t get back up. He then looked over to see his best friend crying and hugging the man that they were just fighting. He waited before going over, knowing that Aleks needed this more than he realize.  _

 

_ “I’m sorry, Luca. I’m so sorry,” Aleks sobbed as he kept holding the brunette. “I’m sorry it came to this.” _

 

_ After some time had passed, James sighed and walked over the Aleks. He then softly placed his hand on his shoulder.  _

 

_ Aleks just kept crying, mourning the death of his brother, Luca. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hellloooooo  
> i gotta say that this chapter had taken a lot of me lol  
> i felt so tired after writing it, but i did try my best  
> i haven't really written a fight scene in a while, so i apologize if its too fast or confusing  
> but this is just a taste of Aleks' backstory  
> and i will be including more of both Aleks' and Brett's backstory in this fic  
> i hope you enjoy it


	11. morning after

The next morning felt eerily familiar. As Alice woke up, she wondered how many times she would waking up with a hangover in this warehouse. Her eyes flickered open as the rays of sunshine intruded into the space. A small whimper broke from her lips as she slowly turned her head towards her friends who surrounded her. It didn’t surprise her that Lindsay was the only person who actually made it to a cot. Brett and James weren’t in the room, so the only other person was Aleks. She was surprised that he was able to sleep through last night. Although, the bags under his eyes suggested that going to sleep for more than a second was longer than any kind of sleep he had since he disappeared

She was right. After the painful series of events, James brought him to an underground doctor to take a look at his wounds. They then spent the rest of their days in a motel, chilling out. He stayed in bed, not sleeping, but staring at the ceiling. Aleks was quiet most of the time, except for when James asked what he wanted to eat. Even then, he didn’t say much. His appetite disappeared, so he only ate a couple of snacks for his meals. It got him by, but James’ worry kept growing. 

Alice let him be as she ventured towards the kitchen to get some water to ease her head. As she was pulling out a cup for herself, she found herself automatically pulling another cup. She paused for a moment, staring at the second ugly cow mug. She let out a sigh as she poured the water out of the Brita into both cups. Even though he didn’t drink at all, drinking water in the morning never hurt.

After walking back into the lobby, she crouched down and placed the cup with water on the floor by his cot. Just as she was standing up, her eyes caught the burst of purple that was sitting on his cheek. Her fingers lightly pressed against it, trying to figure out what happened. Aleks suddenly winced and his eyes slowly blinked open. Alice froze, with a dopey look plastered on her face. 

“What’s … wrong?” Aleks yawned as he started sitting up in his cot.

“Uh …,” she started to think. “Water! Yes, I brought you water.” She quickly grasped onto the cup she put down and held it in front of him.

“Oh cool,” Aleks took the cup and downed the entire thing in seconds. 

“Dehydrated?” 

“Yeah, haven’t really found time to drink any water in the past few days,” he casually spoke. 

“Well now that you have time, you should drink more water,” Alice advised as she stood fully back up.

“Yeah,” he chuckled. “I’ll try that. Thanks though, for the water.”

“Yeah that’s what friends are for.”

“Friends,” he whispered as his eyes turned towards the floor with a smug smile glued to his face. 

 

Time passed and everyone gradually rose after twelve. Brett made some Mac n cheese for the late risers. Lindsay and Jakob slugged their way into the kitchen with the smell of artificial cheese dragging them from their fatigue. James found himself waking up in the parking lot with a giant dick drawn on his face with sharpie. When he finally got up he slammed the lobby door open looking for the perpetrator and immediately punched Brett in the face when he found him. 

“Hey! What was unwarranted!” Brett screamed at him while holding his face. 

“There’s a dick on my face!” James screamed back pointing to the crude drawing on his face. 

“Okay, so it was warranted, but hey this is the money maker,” Brett pouted as he rubbed his cheek.

“Yeah whatever asshole,” James waved him off as he went to the bathroom to wash off the sharpie. 

“Aw, want me to kiss it better?” Alice smirked as she passed James and walked into the kitchen.

“I mean if you’re offering then who am I to deny you?” Brett pointed to his injury. Alice kissed the tips of her fingers and smashed it against his face. He winced for a moment from the previous punch, but a smile followed after it. “You’re too kind to me.”

“I know,” she stated as she took one of the bowls of Mac and Cheese. She took a seat at the table where Jakob and Lindsay were exhaustingly eating their food. Even though Jakob was able to barricade himself, he could hear every little sound and scream that everyone made last night. So exhaustion had found him in the bright light of morning.

They all sat in silence, consuming the cheesy goodness. Even Brett stayed quiet and ravaged through his food. Hunger and fatigue had been poking at their stomachs and minds. All they wanted was to fall back asleep after finishing their meal, but they had work to do. Brett handed out flashcards with bios and important information about each of their covers. 

Aleks and James were going undercover as employees working the venue. Aleks was going to be part of the serving staff, while James was part of the security team. Thankfully both had previous experience in those respective jobs so they wouldn’t be completely lost in what they were doing. They both received their uniforms later in the day. Aleks picked up a charcoal black button down and a red skinny tie with a pair of black dress pants from the venue. The company catering the event wanted all serving staff to wear the same issued clothing so that everyone would match. James had sent his uniform sent to him. There was a package by the gate with a full black suit with blazer, button down, and pants. 

The day had finally passed by. Brett and Lindsay was in full work mode. James and Aleks were getting themselves ready for their roles. Jakob was showing Alice the items that he bought for their mission. There was a small knife that was disguised as a fake pen, one end had a blade and another end had a small tip of poison a person could administer to someone. Another item was a a portable charger that also doubled as a taser, so they could charge their phones and also paralyze someone. 

“Where did you get this stuff, the FBI’s closet?” Alice commented as she was going through all of the tech that he got.

“Something like that,” he shrugged. “Fakehaus had a contact that they put me through to. They just gave me a list and I circled the things that I thought would be useful.”

“Sounds ominous,” Alice remarked as she opened the top casing of the pen to reveal the sharp blade. “So how am I supposed to get this through a metal detector?”

“The plastic pen casing is coated with some weird shit, so that it won’t set it off.”

“Ah, I should’ve guessed.”

“These guys are so weird, I wouldn’t be surprised if these guys actually came out of some weird James Bond movie,” Jakob seriously spoke as he was rummaging through more of the stuff that they sent. In the letter that came with the box, Fakehaus wrote that they were sending extra equipment. It was a ‘thank you’ gift that doubled as a ‘we hate you, but you’re keeping our new recruit safe so here’s a lot of stuff to actually keep her safe’ gift. 

A slam caused both of them to shift their eyes towards Brett’s door. He let out a deep sigh, and clapped his hands above his head. Alice’s eyes obviously lingered towards him, while Jakob went back to seeing what else was sent to them. His eyes were glowing red, probably from staring at his computer screen for the past few hours and not actually blinking. He was finally able to catch a break and decided to leave his office so the stress wouldn’t linger over his shoulder. 

“I’m gonna pick up our stuff for Saturday, I’ll be back in an hour” Brett spoke, not to anyone in particular, but to the entire room. 

“Need help?” Alice tried to keep her eagerness unnoticeable. 

“Nah, I’m good for today. I don’t need any distractions,” Brett winked as he headed out towards the lobby. 

A slight twinge of disappointment struck her as she went back to looking at the pen she was still holding onto.

“You’re so obvious,” Jakob smirked. 

“Shut up,” Alice blushed and kept her head down. “… Am I really?”

“Yeah trust me only an idiot wouldn’t realize that you have a huge gross crush on Brett.”

“It’s a good thing that most of the people who work here are idiots.”

“Well, you got me there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello!
> 
> sorry that it took a bit to update! i've been super busy this last few days. 
> 
> also this chapter is more of a filler and the next chapter i have planned will be more related to the plot!
> 
> so i'm excited for where this is heading.
> 
> thank you for reading!


	12. nowhere else to run

The weekend had come by in the blink of an eye. Combat and stealth training with James took up most of the day, while research took up most of the night. Alice’s anxiety kept her eyes glued to a computer screen as she was doing research on the infamous Burnie Burns. She wanted to know as much as she could. She hoped that there was something that she could learn that would help with the mission. Yet, most of the articles that came up praised him for his philanthropy towards for the different charities he helped fund. Any article that was written about him or the Cock Bites had been wiped clean from the internet. It was no surprise, with their power they could bribe or kill anyone to get what they wanted. 

Aleks’ eyes latched onto the mirror as he carefully dragged the razor down his face. In the past few days his upkeep took a backseat to the mission and his own mind. His stubble had grown to a light scruff, which was more than he has comfortable with. Yet the past few days of sleep had at least helped heal his black circles and helped regain his energy. Thankfully his reflexes and combat skills were as sharp as ever. Him and James had sparred with each other a few times and went over a few skills that could help in closer combat in the past few days.

“Hey! Hurry up in there!” Brett pounded his fist on the bathroom door.

“There’s another bathroom closer to your office!” Aleks yelled back at him.

“Alice is hogging that one!” Brett slammed his body against the door and broke through. Aleks jumped in reaction and let the razor cling against the sink. Thankfully Aleks was done shaving, so that he didn’t end up cutting his face. 

“You fuck, I’m not done!” Aleks shouted wiped the rest of the shaving cream off of his face. 

“Yeah yeah, you look beautiful,” Brett waved Aleks off. 

“Whatever man, I already knew that,” Aleks brushed Brett off as he was picking up the rest of his stuff in the bathroom.

As Aleks was heading out of the door, Brett’s hand stopped Aleks from leaving. 

“You’re leaving soon, right?” Brett asked. 

“Heading out after I get dressed.”

“Stay safe, I don’t need to lose anyone else.”

Aleks turned around, facing the man who had taken him in and helped him start hi life over. Yet, Aleks had wondered if the debt that he owed the man was over. Brett didn’t expect anything in return for what he’s done for Aleks, but Aleks wasn’t just going to take that. Even through pestering each other and fucking around, he saw Brett as an older brother figure. Aleks would never admit it, but he admired Brett for being able to start a gang that could be compared to Fakehaus. 

“Don’t underestimate me, I got a few tricks up my sleeve. I’m not going to lose so easily,” Aleks said practically.

“Yeah, you’re a tough idiot. The only one who can probably off you is yourself,” Brett chuckled to himself. 

Aleks took a beat to think to himself. Seeing Brett not prying or asking questions made the guilt bubble deeper inside of him. He had been trying to stifle his own emotional turmoil, but during these small moments he wanted to spill out everything that he had ever felt. Yet, he had to hold himself in. He couldn’t do that, especially when they had a mission creeping over their shoulder. 

“Yeah, I hope so,” Aleks breathed out as he turned away and left to go change into his clothes. As he exited the bathroom, his eyes peeked from the side to take a glance at Brett. He was washing his face, not paying mind to the fake blonde. Aleks shook it off and continued to get his clothes. 

Brett splashed cold water against his face, hoping that it would chill out his nerves. It was going to be the newbie’s first mission and everyone’s first official mission that didn’t involve cow masks. They were always in way over they heads with taking on Fake AH’s territory, but they were never actually involved with any of the members. Their experience with fighting as a gang was limited to the Los Santos police and some smaller gangs. Brett’s anxiety tried to think of every solution for every possible problem that came into his mind. Yet, deep down he knew something wasn’t going to go according to plan. He just couldn’t figure out what it was going to be this time.

On the other side of the office, Alice was putting her makeup on. She was torn between creating a simple and classic look or go to her usual dark and moody makeup routine. Brett told her that they weren’t supposed to stand out, so she decided to go with something unsuspecting. It took her a bit, but she still wanted to look as good as she could. After all she was going to be Brett’s date, and that caused her heart to try and leap from her chest. Suddenly Aleks’ dorky smile also crept through to her mind. She paused for a second, 

It happened again, like the other day when she pulled out the mug for him. They had agreed to start over and become friends. Yet, that didn’t mean that she forgot about that kiss. It had been a while since someone had kissed her with such urgency and heat. A blush smoked over her face as she kept thinking about it. It had been a while since her mind brought it back up again, but it felt like it was just yesterday. 

“Ugh,” she audibly groaned as she threw her mascara back into her makeup pouch. Her hands gripped the cold sides of the porcelain sink as her eyes scanned the girl that was reflecting in the mirror. She looked exactly the same as before, maybe with a little less make up and more dark circles, but the same nonetheless. She didn’t feel the same though. She felt like a new person; someone with more skills, but with more fear and vulnerability. There were people she actually cared about in Los Santos and people she didn’t ant see getting hurt.

Alice started packing the rest of her makeup back into the bag and tried to shake off any lingering or conflicting thoughts that were going to distract her from tonight. All that mattered to her was looking good, while trying to fuck over a man who basically monopolized all of Los Santos. Brett and Aleks weren’t her main problem, trying not to die or be captured was her main problem. 

“Hey, you almost done?” James knocked on the door. “Brett is hogging the bathroom and I don’t feel like fighting with him again.”

“Oh yeah sure,” Alice spoke as she opened the door. “I just finished up.”

“Looking good, Alice,” he winked as he entered the bathroom. James was already dressed in his security outfit and ready to head out with Aleks soon. Both boys were leaving one hour before the actual party started so they could help out. 

Alice headed back to the lobby so she could get changed since she already finished her makeup. The last things she had to do was get dressed and then finish her hair. Luckily she still had at least forty minutes since it took about twenty minutes to get to the venue. She was planning every minute that she needed, it gave her a sense of comfort to know what was going to be coming next.

As soon as she walked into the lobby, she froze right where she was. Her eyes made direct contact with the distressed boy who was staring back at her as he was trying to put his pants on. The few seconds that their eyes stuck to each other felt like centuries as neither person knew what to do. Aleks snapped out of it first as he quickly buttoned his pants back up and tried to look for his shirt. His wide array of tattoos that spread from his arms to his chest was exposed as he was throwing his clothes around to find his shirt. 

“Sorry I uh.. yeah,” she quickly turned around as she couldn’t help but giggle to herself. Moments like this made her feel like she was in some kind of cheesy rom-com. It was sort of relaxing and gave her a sense of normalcy being able to let her guard down for a second.

“Haven’t you heard of knocking?” Aleks asked as he finally found his shirt underneath his sheets and slipped it on.

“Uh I would, but uh no door,” Alice pointed to the entrance that lacked any semblance of a door.

“Oh … Right, forgot about that,” Aleks bashfully commented. “Okay I’m good.”

Alice gradually turned around as Aleks starting working on his tie. Alice had to admit not seeing the man in his usual graphic tee and sweatpants was refreshing. He cleaned up nice with his hair styled and not hiding underneath a snapback for once. 

“So, you’re heading out soon?” Alice inquired as she put her makeup pouch back in her bag.

“Yeah, just waiting on James then its time to start the mission,” Aleks casually explained. “Going to miss me?”

“Ha, you wish,” Alice teased. “Maybe if you slip me a few extra gift bags I’ll miss you more.”

“Oh I am the king of taking things that don’t belong to me,” Aleks said with a smirk.

“Wow you’re just so talented,” Alice sarcastically remarked.

“Don’t you doubt it,” Aleks taunted as he passed her.

“Stay safe,” Alice called out as he was walking out the door way.

“Only if you do.”

“No promises.”

Aleks and James left a few minutes after their conversation, and Alice was in the bathroom wrapping her hair around the curling iron after putting on a backless black dress with a side slit. She hadn’t seen Brett all day, she hoped that he wasn’t being too hard on himself. The past few days were a lot of him shutting everyone out as he locked himself off in his office. Every once in a while she saw him pull himself out of his office for something to eat.

After the last curl fell slightly above her shoulder, she unplugged the burning hot iron and let it lay on the side of the sink to cool down. It was almost time and Brett still hadn’t made any noise. Lindsay and Jakob left before James and Aleks to secure their positions in the venue and to take one extra look around. So the quiet eerily crept through the warehouse, shrouding around the last two members that stayed behind. The unnatural quiet created a strange and creepy aura. 

Alice left the bathroom and headed towards Brett’s office slightly faster than her usual pace. She knocked on his door and looked through the glass to see him still stuck on his computer. His eyes immediately noticed her and got up from his seat to open the door. 

“Hey sorry, I’m just finishing up a few things,” Brett leaned up against the door.

“Oh yeah its no problem, I was just wondering how you were doing. I feel like we haven’t talked in a while,” Alice rubbed her arm as she nervously revealed. 

“Really? You miss our enlightening conversations?” He quipped with his usual prideful smile.

“I never said that,” she defensively responded. 

“Whatever you say,” his eyes roamed up and down his partner. “You’re looking good, I better catch up.”

“Yeah you better, or no one is going to believe that I agreed to be your date,” she huffed. 

“Don’t you worry, I’ll be sure not to embarrass you in front of a bunch of rich criminals.”

“Whatever did I do to deserve you?” 

“Probably something super shitty.” 

“Yeah you’re probably right,” she smiled. “Now get dressed or we’re going to be late.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Brett promptly threw on his suit after talking to Alice. He got dressed in his office, creating a black on black look with his suit jacket and button down. Lastly, he added gold cufflinks and triangular web-like collar pins to fake his regality. He took a last minute look in his full body mirror to make sure nothing was out of place, while Alice was cleaning her stuff up and adding the last touches of her looks with a dark purple lipstick.

When both of them were ready, they both took a breath before the leaving the warehouse and shared a look that assured the other that no matter what, lives were more important than money.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello friendos  
> so i'm super pumped for the next chapter  
> because its we're going to jump right into some action!  
> thank you for the read


	13. begin

It was time. Everyone was where they were supposed to be. Brett parked his car a few blocks away from the hotel so that they couldn’t be connected back to their car when they were going to make their escape. Aleks was readied with a silver plate of drinks and a fake smile spread across his lips. James was stationed at the front of the door checking IDs and invitations. Lindsay was in a van that was parked a few blocks behind the venue, keeping eyes on the security cameras that she had access to and the security system as part of their plan. Jakob was on the roof, chilling out with a sniper rifle and binoculars to keep an eye out on the people coming in and out. 

Fakehaus gave them a time to meet, but no one from the Fake Chop gang had seen them so far. They were told to meet up with Elyse and James about thirty minutes into the gala an hour before Burnie’s henchmen were to retrieve the art pieces before the auction. The only other information they were given was that Bruce and Adam were two our of the five guards that were hired to be in charge of the priceless works of art. 

Alice held onto Brett’s arm tightly as they entered the hotel and approached the event room towards the familiar face that stood outside of the door. Yet when they got to the door, it was like they had never seen each other before in their lives. 

“Invitations and IDs please,” James asked in an unmoved voice. Brett handed James a slip of paper that James proceeded to slip into his jacket pocket. James then nodded his head to signal that they were in the clear. Brett returned the nod and Alice gave a nervous smile.

Brett laid his hand on top of Alice’s as they entered the actual gala. A bright crystal chandelier hung above and illuminated the crowd of people that were gathered in the massive room. Stairways curved up towards the second floor in the back, while there was a stage right in front of it. In the center of the room, there was an empty floor for people to socialize with each other. Tables were scattered towards the right side of the room in a diamond formation for people to sit and relax, with a bar towards the left side of the room. There were a range of people wearing the finest clothes that Alice had seen in one place. Some clothed themselves in the traditional suit and tie, while others were more adventurous with clothing from different eras and cultures. The rich were the ones that could afford it after all, so why not show it off?

“How’re you doing?” Brett whispered as they walked further into the crowd of people. 

“Good so far, nothing to worry about yet,” Alice whispered back.

“There will be nothing to worry about as long as I’m here,” Brett tightened his own grip on her arm for reassurance. 

“You’re right,” Alice crept a small smile in. There was no sarcastic comebacks or witty remarks, she actually meant it. It caught Brett a little off guard, allowing him to show a small flush of pink emerge from his cheeks. 

“You’re too much,” he couldn’t contain his grin that spread from ear to ear. 

“I know.”

Conversations crowded the room, echoing off one another. Alice and Brett kept their ears’ sharp in case anything stood out to them. They took bits and pieces from different people, and figured out whether or not they were important enough to examine further. The both of them kept to themselves mostly, but would give the casual smile to strangers to keep up the friendly facade. 

“Champagne?” A familiar voice slid behind them.

“Of course,” Brett answered as he was turning around to face the fake blonde holding a tray of champagne. 

“For you,” Aleks handed him a glass of champagne, while slipping a small piece of paper in between Brett’s fingers.

Aleks’ eyes quickly peeked over at Alice as Brett as putting the note in his jacket pocket. Her eyes caught his for a moment, and he gently smiled. Without another word spoken, Aleks resumed serving the rest of the guests. Alice tucked the look away as Brett wrapped his arm around her waist and led her deeper into the crowd of people. It was interesting to listen to conversations that seemed out of her grasp. The guests were talking about their empires and how fruitful they had become. Others were talking about touring all around the world for months without worrying about money or work. The amount of experience and culture they had at the tip of their fingers was amazing, at least to Alice. 

“Excuse me, but do I know you?” A man approached Brett and Alice. When they looked over, they were underwhelmed with the fact that they didn’t actually recognize the man at all.

“Sorry, but you probably have the wrong person,” Brett chimed in. 

“Are you sure? I feel like this young lady has seen me before,” the man’s raspy voice didn’t harbor any aggression, but rather curiosity. 

Alice took a closer look. His appearance seemed like any other man that was walking down the streets of Los Santos. He was also older, probably around Brett’s age which was strange. The only people she ever really interacted with were those who came into the coffee shop and those were mostly college kids and the occasional business man. Then a glint in his dark green eyes clicked a moment back her in memory. The blood drained from her face into her heart, causing it to almost leap out of her chest. Alice’s finger nails dug deep into her palms, creating a pain that triggered her adrenaline. Her other hand grasped onto Brett’s suit jacket as tight as she could and pulled him closer to her side.

“Ah see, I knew I was right,” the man chuckled as the fear grew more vulnerable across her face. “How interesting to see you here tonight. I can’t wait to bump into you again, my puppet.”

As soon as the man turned around and walked away, Alice let herself breathe again. She didn’t realize it but as her body was trembling, she was holding her breath in. Alice tried to regain composure as fast as she could, so no one would draw any attention to her. She kept her grip on Brett and he returned the gesture with a tight squeeze, still around her waist.

“Was that who I think it is?” Brett whispered.

“I wouldn’t forget those eyes,” Alice urgently replied. “That’s Vagabond.”

“We need to get you out of here. Its not safe.”

“No, the plan calls for both of us. I’m not leaving you to deal with him by yourself,” Alice’s eyes begged with desperation as she stared at Brett.

He sighed.

“Now how can I say no to you,” he defeatedly admitted. “But now the plan has changed. If Vagabond is here, I can only assume a few others if not all of the Fake AH Crew is here. Luckily, we know what a few look like due to released police reports.”

“Yeah, but I haven’t seen them yet. They might be working with Burns and guarding the artifacts.”

“You’re probably right, Burns has a couple of old work friends in the Fake AH Crew. I wouldn’t be surprised that he wanted to bring out a couple of big guns so no one ruins his plans.”

“Should we tell the others?”

“Yeah we should,” he paused. 

His eyes darted around the room, until he laid sights on Aleks. Bretts hand left Alice’s waist and promptly grabbed her hand as they headed over towards him. The warmth of his hand helped relax Alice’s body. She felt protected just by being near him, because she knew that he cared. 

“Excuse me, but it looks like we have unwelcome company in the form of the big Fakes,” Brett kept his voice hushed as he approached Aleks. 

“I see,” Aleks took a moment to himself. “I’ll tell James.”

“No, I’m going to go, it'll be less suspicious. I just need you to look after Alice for a little bit. We just encountered one of them and I need you to make sure she stays safe,” Brett raised his eyes brows as a signal.

“Got it,” Aleks nodded as Brett walked off. “We need to go.”

“Wait are you taking me somewhere? That’s not part of the pl-,” Alice was interrupted by Aleks grabbing her wrist and speedily walking towards one of the exits by the stage. Everyone seemed so wrapped up in their bragging and business that no one noticed that one of the servers was taking a guest out of the event. 

When they both walked through the door, they found themselves in a hallway. Aleks’ eyes ran back and forth through each set of doors that he could see. He was trying to figure out which doors led where and which ones were just rooms.

“What are you doing?” Alice demanded as she tore Aleks’ hand from her wrist. “I have to go back in there. Did you forget the mission?”

“No … This is one of the backups that Brett suggested in case we have some unwelcome guests.”

“But I can’t leave him alone, he’s going to get hurt.”  
“Yeah, well so will you,” Aleks shot back at her. “And … And we can’t let that happen. Brett’s been through worse, he’s fought worse. He’ll survive, but you … We don’t know about you.”

“I’ve been training. HE’S been training me … That should be somewhat credible, right?” Alice questioned.

“Somewhat is going to get you fucking killed!” Aleks shouted. Alice froze for a moment. “And we can’t let that happen,” Aleks whispered as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her down the hallway. “I don’t think you realize what kind of position you’re in right now. The Fake AH Crew is not a place for a newbie. You don’t understand what those sick fucks are capable of, and you don’t want to.”

“Aleks, please,” Alice started to beg as she allowed herself to be pulled down further. “There has to be something we can do, please just let me go.” She didn’t want to cause a huge scene, so she hoped that her words would be able to convince him. “You have to believe in me.”

“I can’t afford to,” he solemnly spoke as he kicked one of the doors open. He revealed a supply closet with dust and webs sprinkled around the corners. The room didn’t look like it got a lot of use out of it, which is why Aleks had picked it out. There were other supply closets that the janitors and other employees used more often due to connivence, so for all he knew they were safe. Aleks shut the door behind him after the both of them rushed in. He let her arm fall back to her side as her eyes kept pleading towards him. “I can’t lose anyone else.”

Images of blood and heartache raced through his mind. The touch of Luca’s dead body was ingrained in his muscle. Tears were on standby just thinking about the boy he grew up with disappearing, because of him. He couldn’t let that happen again. He wasn’t going to let anyone else fade away if he had anything to do with it. This girl that was in front of him could have been pulled away in a second from the pull of a trigger. The shine in her eyes could fade to a colorless look in a blink of an eye. In one wrong move she could vanish, and he wasn’t prepared to have his heart sink down deeper into the depths of his own Mariana’s Trench.

“You’re not going to,” Alice took a breath and stepped closer to him. “Because I’ll make sure we don’t lose anybody.”

“But who is going to make sure you’re alive to do that? If you’re too busy looking out for other people, you’re going to get yourself killed,” Aleks’ tone grew more desperate, trying to pull her away from the dangers that he kept imagining in his mind. “Don’t you understand? I never wanted to bring you into this, we didn’t need anymore people in the line of fire. I told Brett, he wouldn’t listen to me. I kept trying to tell you, but you kept fighting me and being such a little shit.”

It took her back a little, realizing how much he cared about her safety. Yet, it shouldn’t have been a surprise. He had been civil and actually nice to her after the agreement with Fakehaus. But then she just kept picking fights with him and trying to shut him out the chances that she got. Somewhere inside of her she knew that she was just projecting her feelings of betrayal and frustrations on just him whenever they fought. It wasn’t fair to him. 

Then she saw him come back from his disappearance with wounds and faked apathy, and that was where the worry began. The worry seeped into the tiny details of the day that made her concerned for him. She wondered during sleepless nights of how she would feel if he had been killed. Different scenarios popped up in her mind, and none of them ended well. Thankfully they then had agreed to be friends with each other, both needing a new start with one another. But this friendship had a level of trust and vulnerability that Aleks wasn’t used to in his life.

“Aleks …,” she waited for a moment, thinking over what she wanted to ask. “What happened these past few days?”

His eyes grew as the rest of his body froze. Aleks didn’t want to tell her, he didn’t want to pull back the curtains of the actual pain and grieving he went through. He didn’t want anyone else pitying him. He didn’t want any charity or comfort, no matter how much he actually needed it.

“That’s not what matters right now,” he tried redirecting the question.

“Isn’t it? Is that why you’re acting this way?” Alice took a few steps closer to him, so that she was able to softly grab onto his hand. “I’m worried about you. You act like you’re fine when I can see it in your eyes that you aren’t.”

“I’m strong, so I’m fine.”

“I know you’re strong, even when you don’t need to be. But letting people in doesn’t make you weak, so please just let me in. I want to help. I don’t want you do anything that you’re going to regret or anything that’ll get you hurt or killed.” 

“You know, I don’t need this shit,” Aleks pulled his hand away from hers as he started heading back outside. 

Her body moved faster than her mind, as she was suddenly throwing her arms around him to try and stop him from leaving. His arm fell to his side, and let out a sigh. Then he realized that this entire time she had been breaking away at the walls he had been building his entire life. She didn’t fully knock them down, but she had chipped away enough to expose a soft spot. His heart started to grow heavy as he felt her grip on him tighten. It was a comfort that he hadn’t felt in so long.

“Before I came to Los Santos, I abandoned the only person I cared about,” he accepted defeat. “Ever since then, he had been hunting me for years. Los Santos wasn’t the first place I tried to escape to, but he just kept finding me everywhere. A few days ago … I decided it was time to stop running. We knew that this was how it was going to end, but I really fucking hoped that it wasn’t going to. I tried playing it out as much as I could, but this time when he sent me the letter I couldn’t leave.”

He swallowed his pride.

“I couldn’t run away again, because this time I have a reason to fight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! its been a while since I've updated, so here is the beginning of the journey for our fake chop and fakehaus friends
> 
> i hope this chapter is good i probably re-did it a few more times than i should've 
> 
> but here it is!


	14. bookmark

“Aleks …” her voice trailed off as Aleks’ eyes turned towards her. Emotions starting piling on top of one another, as she could feel the distance between her and Aleks close. His eyes didn’t budge as soon as they locked onto hers.

“I mean it,” his voice grew more stern. 

Alice knew what he meant, but she didn’t actually think what it meant to her. She had been trying to pry away any piece of the wall that he built up against the world. Yet, she didn’t realize that her walls were also falling down around him. She had resented him for so long that she never thought of giving into the feelings she had been trying to repress since he got back. But those feelings were pushing their way through into her heart.

“You’re crazy,” she whispered under her breath.

“I’d have to be to put up with you,” his hand slowly cupped her cheek. “But I don’t mind it too much.”

Instead of slapping his hand away, she held it closely to her face. The warmth was comforting after an array of adrenaline coursed through both of their veins. It just felt really nice.

“Aleks …” She couldn’t figure out what else to say. Words piled up on each other, trying to fight their way out of her lips. They were here to get a job done, but they were derailed by another gang and then their own feelings.

“I know, you don’t have to say anything,” he let his hand fall as she softened her grip. “We have a job to do right now.”

“We?” Her voice perked up.

“Obviously if I try to stop you, you’re going to make things worse,” he sighed as he turned back around and headed towards the end of the room. He started rummaging around in one of the brown cardboard boxes. When he stood back up, he was holding two pistols. “This one’s for you.”

He handed her a sleek and cold pistol. Her eyes were glued to it as she took it from his hands. She watched him tuck his into his waist band and followed suit by tucking it into the waist band of her stockings underneath her dress. Even though he admitted defeat, hesitation radiated from his vulnerable dark eyes. 

“I’m going to be okay,” she squeaked out, trying to figure out how to reassure him. A sigh slid from his lips as his fingers ruffled through his hair.

“You better be.” 

After their nerves settled to their best ability, they left the closet and headed back towards the event room. Aleks walked a few feet behind Alice just in case anyone else had seen them. He kept his head down and his hands in his pockets as she tried keeping her head out of the clouds. The silence that lingered over the both of them made the short walk feel like hours. Feelings and thoughts of each other kept bogging them down like an anchor, drowning every sensibility that would keep them levelheaded. 

Alice rushed back to the event room as her fingers pried open the door. Her heart wanted to spin her around just to get one more sincere look from Aleks. She was craving a deep dive into the pools of color in his eyes. She swallowed her desires and any words that were still lingering on her tongue. To her advantage the wave of formality that was displayed in front of her snapped her mind out of it. The guests’ fake smiles and small talks reminded her of what was at stake and that one mistake would cause everything to fall apart.

Her eyes scanned the room, trying to find Brett. She slowly made her way through the crowd when she noticed a familiar figure sitting at the bar with a drink in his hand. As her eyes locked onto him, she picked up the pace through the crowd of expensive jewelry and overpriced tie clips. 

“Where did that fucker go? Vagabond is such a fucking edge-lord,” a voice scolded behind her. 

“He’s probably out torturing some poor lads,” a lackluster British accent commented.

“Tsk, he better not leave any evidence.”

Alice nonchalantly slid her eyes towards the voices to see two men. One of them had wild curly brown hair and a baby face, while the other had a thinner face that was growing out scruff. The both of them were casually loitering around with a glass of champagne in their hands. They actually stood out due to their crumpled tucked in shirts and lackadaisical postures. Alice steadied her pace to not attract attention. She studied their faces long enough to be able to pick them out of another crowd. 

“Hey what are you looking at,” the baby faced guy shot a glare right into Alice’s eyes. Ice immediately shot through her veins, with fear and panic holding her down to the ground.

“Sorry, I thought - I just …” Her words jumbled through her tongue, unable to find an excuse.

“Fucking rich people,” the man scoffed as he turned his attention back to his drink. Alice could feel the hold of his stare let her go and relief wash over her. She hurriedly walked towards the bar, not wanting to make another mistake that could blow her cover. 

“Brett,” she huffed as she clutched onto Brett’s shoulder. He jumped in surprise as she made contact and almost spilled his glass.

“Holy fuck you scared the shit out of me.”

“Sorry, I just… There are two more,” she said, trying to catch her breath.

“Its okay, James is getting caught up by Fakehaus. Our time is almost up, so they should be coming to find us soon. Did Aleks equip you?”

“Yeah, locked and loaded. I’m ready to pretend to be totally okay with shooting some guys,” Alice answered. 

“Great,” Brett chuckled. “Have it my way and you’re not going to even have to touch it.” 

“Wow so tough, so strong,” Alice teased. 

“Thank you for acknowledging me, next time I’ll take it in a bullet pointed list.”

“If there even is a next time.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure of it.” 

Slyly, James made his way out from a door that was connected to the back of the bar. He raised his eyebrows in their direction, signaling that it was time. They both nodded and followed him through the door that the entered from. Now there was no turning back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! sorry that this chapter took a long time and that it's not the best.
> 
> I've been suffering from some major writers block.
> 
> but I will keep pushing through! 
> 
> thank you so much for reading this far!


	15. starting the scene

Footsteps echoed against the poorly lit walls as the gang let their heels click further down the hallway. Alice’s eyes wandered as she noticed that there weren’t any doors in this hallway, rather there were oil paintings that had been collecting dust. It seemed like no one made use of this hallway in some time. The music easily faded into silence as they were reaching the end of the hallway. Yet before they opened the door, James stopped them. 

“One second,” James breathed out and then proceeded to smack his hands against his cheeks. “Okay, that’s better.” 

The red radiated on his face as the anxiety James was harboring disappeared. It had been a difficult night, and it wasn’t going to get any easier. He had his own run in with some of the Fake AH crew when setting up for the party. Luckily those dumb cow masks hid his true identity, so they didn’t recognize him.

“You’ll need this,” James spoke as he pulled two flimsy silver masks from his jacket. 

Neither of them hesitated, as they tied a piece of ribbon around the back of their heads. Suddenly, their heartbeats started to grow in louder and in-sync as they realized they were cementing the reality of the situation around their faces. 

James then opened the door when they were done, and revealed a room lit in red with a crowd of people scattered in various cliques. Eyes peeled from their conversations and their voices hushed down as Brett and Alice walked in. Strangers’ irises trailed along the path that the they took towards empty seats. They kept to themselves, not wanting to stand out as much as they already were. They both naturally walked towards a table with two chairs next to each other. As they took their seats, James closed the door behind them and clicked the two locks to secure the door. 

Just as he finished with the locks, the door on the other side opened up with two people coming out in rabbit masks and tuxedos. They were the most dapper looking bunnies on this side of Los Santos. One of them was bald and shorter, but made up for his height with his muscular form and growing scruff. The other one was was taller with short brown hair, broad shoulders, and bushier facial hair. 

“Hello lovely guests, we are your lovely hosts for this evening. I am the legendary Rimmy Tim and starting his debut in the underground scene, Dead Pixel!” 

Suddenly gears clicked inside of Alice’s mind as she recognized the name Dead Pixel. To her recollection, it was one of the names that Brett mentioned was Fakehaus. It was reliving to know one of them was overlooking this situation, but it wasn’t too comforting seeing how stiff he was standing next to Rimmy Tim.

“The auction will commence shortly, so we will be back momentarily,” Rimmy Tim announced as he headed back through the door with Dead Pixel following behind him.

A few moments passed after the door shut before everyone gradually began starting conversations with one another. As the volume grew, Brett side eyed James. James nodded and then proceeded to casually walk to the other side of the room, pretending that he was checking on the other guests. 

“Do you remember the plan?” Brett said in a hushed tone.

“I’ve gone over it fifty time in my head in the last minute,” Alice tried to keep her voice steady.

“I’ll meet you up there, I promise,” was the last thing he said before stood up and started screaming. 

Brett’s hands gripped the side of the table and swiftly flipped it up in the air. As soon as the table smashed into two pieces, Alice swiftly jumped from her seat back away from the commotion Brett started. She slid towards the left wall that was adjacent to the door that Rimmy Tim and Dead Pixel. Feigning fear and confusion, her eyes darted towards James who was running towards him.

James’ arm reached around Brett’s stomach as he attempted to tackle him to the ground. Instead, he just pushed Brett a few feet back from where he was standing. Everyone’s eyes were glued to the duo who were ‘fighting’, as Alice started heading towards the door. Her hand clasped on the door handle and thankfully for her it was unlocked. Carefully, she slipped in as everyone was still distracted. 

As soon as she was on the other side, she was faced with another new hallway. This one was a bit more straight forward due to the fact that it was a small hallway leading to an elevator. Bare white walls surrounded her. She hustled her way down with the click of her heels following behind her as she threw off her mask to the ground. The anxiety piled up in her heart as she pressed the only button next to the elevator. It only took a few seconds before the escalator dinged that it had arrived on the floor.

When the door opened up, a pair of dark colored eyes sent a shock down her spine. She froze as it took her a minute to realize that she actually recognized this person, while Aleks couldn’t help keep a smile from escaping his lips. Instinctively he pulled her into his arms and wrapped them around her tightly like she would fall over otherwise. 

“Glad to see you had faith in me,” Alice joked to break the silence.

“Oh sorry,” Aleks began to register what he was doing as he let go of her. “I’m just glad you made it safe.”

“I’m quite sneakier than I look, plus Brett is hard to miss when he’s freaking out.”

“Yeah I’m glad that I missed that,” Aleks commented as he pushed the only floor button, which read ‘Top’. 

“So who’s available to meet when we get up there?” Alice inquired.

“JustRiggz and Catchall should be up there when we reach the top floor, they’re going to be ‘escorting’ us to a private loft on the floor. They’ll basically be our look outs, while we’re doing what we need to do,” Aleks explained. 

“Great, just need to transfer a shit load of artifacts that cost more than anything I own combined together and then just try and get it out of here without the most powerful man in Los Santos catching us,” Alice breathed out her words to try and regain some composure.

“I’ve been through worse,” Aleks shrugged. 

“I bet you have.”

Once the elevator reached the top of the floor there were two men in suits standing with their backs facing to the two of them. Beyond the two men was a regal red rug leading down a path with rooms decorated with gold foliage on each of the doors. The air changed to a less muggy atmosphere, like when they walked in it was breath of fresh air. But taking in the scenery wasn’t their main objective. 

Alice recognized one of the men as James, her former boss from the cafe. Yet, she didn’t waste time trying to catch up. Instead, they followed silently behind the two men without hesitation,. Thankfully for them, most of the people who were staying in these rooms were too busy spectating Brett downstairs in the auction room. But luck was running out as the room they were looking for was around a few corners and down long hallways.

“You have fifteen minutes. There’s a cart inside that you can load everything onto,” one of the men informed them as they unlocked the door leading to the room.

Alice and Aleks didn’t hesitate as they rushed in and let the door slam closed behind them. Before them was varying pieces of art ranging from familiar statues to paintings. Yet there were more unnerving items that caught them off guard. There was a jar of green liquid filled with about five eyeballs with red irises sitting on a shelf and mannequins with different colored collars with numbers on them. The cart that was mentioned was sitting by the door, so Aleks pushed it closer to the items that they were going to place on it.

First Aleks grabbed a some frames and started to toss them on the bottom section of the cart, while Alice grabbed velvet jewelry boxes and put them on the top part. She then threw in some hard drives and USBs. The both of them loaded the cart as much as they could. It was a pretty big cart so they were able to get the amount needed and then some before the fifteen minutes were up. After they were done, they tossed a sheet over it to not make it too obvious, and opened the door to be escorted back down the hallway.

James and the other man led them back the way that they came, but a few feet further ahead incase any unwanted visitors were on the other side of a corner. Aleks was pushing the cart while Alice stayed behind him, both too nervous to say anything to each other. The uncomfortable silence kept poking at their nerves. They couldn’t let it show, but sweat beaded down the side of Aleks’ face and Alice’s hands wouldn’t stop shaking. She wanted to keep her grip on her gun just in case, but she was afraid that if she was startled she would accidentally shoot it. 

They were almost out, but then they heard a ding from the elevator. James quickly scanned his master key against one of the doors decorated with gold and shoved Alice, Aleks, and the cart inside. 

“Don’t open the door unless you hear two knocks,” James firmly spoke with an intimidating look in his eyes. A shiver ran down Alice’s spine as his eyes connected with hers. She wasn’t used to that. She was used to him joking around with her and making her less nervous, but this wasn’t her old life anymore. It hadn’t been for a while. 

“So this is how the other half live,” Aleks referenced the room that they were currently trapped in. When Alice turned around she suddenly felt small in the massive room. The velvet from the hallway clothed the entire floor and the gold from the doors continued onto the walls as vines and roses. 

She stepped deeper inside of the room with her mouth hung slightly open. Her eyes traveled from each corner that was decorated with lavish artwork. The bed was made up with rose petals and what appeared to be gold flakes lying on the blankets. That part was unpractical, but it still kept Alice speechless. Aleks on the other hand didn’t seem as impressed. 

“I guess I underestimated you,” Aleks spoke, trying not to make eye contact.

“Yeah you did,” Alice broke from her trance of admiring the room and looked over towards him.

“Sorry,” he spoke softly, but sounded like he meant it. 

“I get it, I mean I wouldn’t have trusted the newbie either.”

“I never said I didn’t trust you,” Aleks replied. “I was just afraid of believing in someone thats never actually been in this kind of action before.”

“Yeah well that’s what it felt like,” Alice remarked as she turned her back towards him. She felt stupid bringing that up, especially at a time like that. It was unnecessary and was taking her mind away from what was really important, but for some reason she couldn’t stop herself.

“Well if it makes you feel better, you’ve helped me realize some things,” his eyes slid towards her. 

“Glad I can help,” she whispered. 

All of a sudden voices from outside the room shifted their thoughts back to the mission. They could hear a voice getting closer, while James was trying to make conversation with whoever was getting off the elevator. Aleks immediately pushed the cart into the bathroom and then grabbed Alice’s wrist into the closet.

“What are you doing?” Alice inquired with little patience in her voice. Her body was pushed close the Aleks’. Even though there wasn’t anyone in the room, the person who’s room it was had multiple bags of luggage stored in the closet. 

“Hiding you idiot,” Aleks shot her a look of dismay. “I put the stuff in the bathroom, so if they find it we could catch them off guard.” It was an interesting plan. The entrance of the closet was right outside of the bathroom, so if anything they could ambush anyone looking at the artifacts inside of the bathroom. 

“But what if they don’t come in here?” Alice shot back.

“But what if they do. Do you know how much girls like you go for in places like this? One look at you and they could see you as merchandise.”

“I thought they were only selling artifacts.”

“You’re such an idiot,” Aleks sighed. “The collars on the mannequins are for the people who get sold. They put it on them after they’re sold off so they remember who bought who.”

“There’s people here … being sold off?” Alice couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. Priceless artifacts were one thing, but actual human beings were being stored and sold like cattle.

“Yes, genius. And you could be one of them if you aren’t careful at every turn.”

Alice’s hands started to shake more. She thought death was the worst case but being toyed with as someone’s property was ten times worse. Thinking about it, brought up a pain that she hadn’t felt in a long time. Her breathing promptly began speeding up and her hand clutched onto Aleks’ shirt.

“Whoa, what’s happening,” Aleks grabbed her shoulders to face him, so he could get a better look at her. 

“I just… I just …,” she couldn’t get a proper sentence out.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he tried reassuring her as he pulled her into his chest. His fingers slipped through her hair, and held her as close as he could. “I’m here, and I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“You promise?”

Aleks’ finger lifted her chin up to look up at him. 

“I promise. My reason for fighting didn’t disappear that night I left, it’s still with me,” his voice felt soft against her cheeks. 

The vulnerability in her eyes shined as he wiped away a stray tear that slipped from her right eye. A small fire started to burn in the pit of his heart. A persistent voice tried urging Alice to just let go, just for a small second. Her lips gradually began to move up towards him as she slipped her fingers up towards his cheeks. She had wanted to do this before, but before she had more self control.

He had been waiting. He had been waiting since he realized what kind of person she really was. Ever since that time he kissed her for the first time, he knew that he didn’t actually make the wrong decision. It was a temptation that he fell into after just one kiss. 

The hunger was growing as he grabbed her face with both of his hands and pulled her closer. Their intentions grew more desperate for each other’s touch as they went deeper into the kiss. His hands started to travel down the back of her dress, feeling the soft bare skin that he was admiring since he saw her tonight. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, wanting to hold him close and feel his warmth. Her fingers then traveled up into his dyed blonde hair, feeling the silky strands. Aleks then propped Alice up on one of the suitcase, so he could get a better grip on her.

Their hearts both leapt out of their chests, pounding harder and harder the more that they were able to feel each other. The floodgates had opened and it didn’t seem like it was going to close any time soon. 

Suddenly the door flew open and before they knew it, Aleks was being pulled off of Alice onto the floor. A shock stunned both of them as they looked towards the culprit. An equally shocked and angry Brett was fuming as he just realized what he had seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy crap it has been a while since i've updated
> 
> so i decided to write a longer chapter than i usually do 
> 
> and a more dramatic one as well
> 
> i hoped that you enjoyed the chapter!
> 
> thank you for reading!


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